Rats, Lice, and History: Being a study in biography, which, after twelve preliminary chapters indispensable for the preparation of the lay reader, deals with the life history of typhus fever by Zinsser, Hans - February 1935

1935 First Edition, Little, Brown, and Company; (one of three printings from February, 1935)
Hans Zinsser, Physician, bacteriologist, and epidemiologist. A Chronicle of Pestilence and Plagues.
Zinsser frames the book as a biography of the infectious disease, tracing its path through history; a "biography" of typhus fever.

"The first two thirds of the work provide background information on topics such as:Scientific concepts and definitions (e.g. Chapter III: Leading up to the definition of bacteria and other parasites, and digressing briefly into the question of the origin of life, Chapter IV: On parasitism in general, and on the necessity of considering the changing nature of infectious diseases in the historical study of epidemics) Diseases of the ancient world (chapter VI) and their effect on political and military history (chapters VII and VIII) The important vectors of typhus mentioned in the title, rats and lice (chapters IX through XI)."

Except for his service during WWII when Zinsser taught as an exchange professor and worked with the American Red Cross in France, Russia, Serbia and China, and was noted for his work in typhus and immunology, Zinsser taught in the School of Medicine at Harvard University.