PREFACE
The original impetus for this collection of essays was a meeting with the editors, Bruce Levin (University of Massachusetts), and R. H. Ward (University of Utah). We were discussing the evidence for and against the coevolution of human hosts and their pathogens in the course of history and the conversation turned to the broader issue of health transitions in human populations. It occurred to us that it would be of value to bring together a group of individuals with diverse interests in health and disease, to focus on populations in transition, and to incorporate both historical and contemporary perspectives. The intent was to see if we could collectively identify some common threads connecting populations that differ widely in space, time, and cultural manifestation.