On mosquitoes

How Mosquitoes Changed Everything “TThere’s a long tradition of history books that profess to explain the world through singular factors: salt or cod or the color blue. “The Mosquito” suffers from the necessary myopia of the genre (in addition to some florid writing, repetition, and digressions through blockbuster movies and the Western Civ highlight reel). Winegard notes that wealthy Romans built their houses on hilltops to escape mosquitoes, and says that the fad has continued to the present, with U.S. houses on hills selling at a notable markup. “Add the real estate market to the mosquito’s portfolio of influence,” he concludes, ignoring other possible reasons for this preference. His argument that mosquitoes are responsible for the Magna Carta and, therefore, modern democracy is a cascade of contingencies: the failure of Louis VII’s siege of Damascus during the malaria season of 1148 led to his separation from Eleanor of Aquitaine, which led her to marry Henry II of England, which led to the birth to King John, who sparred with his barons. Winegard doesn’t need these double-jointed reaches to persuade us of the hidden influence mosquitoes have had in shaping history and creating the world that we know today.”