Not sure which of these two listservs there was a discussion of cholera, famines, etc. as it concerns genealogy research. I just got a catalog from The Scholar's Bookshelf, 110 Melrich Road, Cranbury, NJ 08512 yesterday. I have never dealt with this company nor I have I read these books, so I can't say anything about either but I thought maybe they could be ordered thru interlibrary loan service (??)----with titles like these I'm sure they don't leave the library shelves very often!!!!! The Encyclopedia of Plague and Pestilence by George C. Kohn -- Covering such topics as where the Black Death originated, how many kinds of plagues there are, how widespread polio was, and what Legionnaire's Disease is, this work serves both as a reference and a history and geography of world diseases. 1995. 432 pgs. (facts on file). Price: $39.50 Rats, Lice, and History; A Chronicle of Pestilence and Plagues by Hans Zinsser -- A bacteriologist's classic account of man's struggle against typhus and other diseases, and their effect on human history. 1996. 301 pgs. Price: $9.95