How sickness changes the way we actually think

You wake up with a sore throat. In 2015, you’d probably grab some antihistamines, knowing the cold would pass in a few days. In 2020, you’d reach for the thermometer with dread, wondering if this was Covid.

But four thousand years ago, that same sore throat meant something entirely different. You’d need both a remedy-man with his herbs and a priest to determine “which of the thousands of pestering demons, always lurking in the corners of the world, has taken up residence in you,” historian Susan Wise Bauer writes in “The Great Shadow: A History of How Sickness Shapes What We Do, Think, Believe, and Buy” (St. Martin’s Press; Jan. 28).

Our evolving theories about what makes us sick haven’t just changed medicine, Bauer argues