New Delhi, May 1 -- In 2019, Frank Snowden, professor emeritus of history and medical history at Yale University, published a book that was a result of four decades of research. Called Epidemics and Society: From the Black Death to the Present, the book is an exhaustive look at many centuries of humanities struggles with infectious diseases. And, as it turns out, it was well timed. "Each epidemic is unique, and each one tells us something about the society in which it occurred," Snowden said in an interview to Rudraneil Sengupta over Skype from Rome. Snowden spoke about the things that the disease reveals about societies, and the ways in which pandemics have shaped public health. Edited excerpts:...