The American Plague | 
 enlarge | Author: Molly Caldwell Crosby
Publisher: Berkley Trade
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
Buy New: $1.49
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Rating:  25 reviews
Sales Rank: 137415
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 384
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.4 x 1.2
ISBN: 0425217752
Dewey Decimal Number: 614.541
EAN: 9780425217757
ASIN: 0425217752
Publication Date: September 4, 2007
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Product Description
In this account, a journalist traces the course of yellow fever, stopping in 1878 Memphis to "vividly [evoke] the Faulkner-meets-'Dawn of the Dead' horrors,"*-and moving on to today's strain of the killer virus.
Over the course of history, yellow fever has paralyzed governments, halted commerce, quarantined cities, moved the U.S. capital, and altered the outcome of wars. During a single summer in Memphis alone, it cost more lives than the Chicago fire, the San Francisco earthquake, and the Johnstown flood combined.
In 1900, the U.S. sent three doctors to Cuba to discover how yellow fever was spread. There, they launched one of history's most controversial human studies. Compelling and terrifying, The American Plague depicts the story of yellow fever and its reign in this country-and in Africa, where even today it strikes thousands every year. With "arresting tales of heroism,"** it is a story as much about the nature of human beings as it is about the nature of disease.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 20 more reviews...
 things you never knew...and never thought were related to yellow fever August 19, 2008
This book presents an overview of the (still unfinished) fight against yellow fever from the time it was a mysterious, dreaded illness until the present - when we know more about it, but the disease remains incurable. The author does an excellent job of pulling together seemingly disparate information and showing how it all coalesces to form the pattern of the disease. Even though the reader may know that the disease is spread by mosquitoes, the scientific search for that breakthrough information is described step by step with the author using this century's hindsight to illumine the efforts of scientists over a hundred years ago to try understand and thus control this disease. The experiments that were done to try to isolate the causative agent were creative - and dangerous - and the book does an excellent job of helping the reader to understand how heroic those early scientists were.
Nice narrative June 27, 2008
Thank you Crosby for writing this amazing piece about how an infectious disease has shaped our history.
Crosby's writing made me feel like I was there in every scene. She emphasized the heroic acts of people who volunteered to help combat yellow fever. I cried a few times during the book too because I became attached to some of the heroes.
Crosby's organization of the book was wonderful and she had great word use. I have had to look up plenty of words! Haha.
I'm touched by this book. If you're a history, science, or infectious disease fan you MUST read this!
Yellow Fever is scary! June 16, 2008
This is a book for those with a strong stomach. Crosby is very detailed in how the epidemic spread through Nashville and how the disease manifests itself. She is great at describing the characters who helped solve the Yellow Fever mystery. However, at times, she is over dramatic and personifies the virus. She says the virus hunts the scientists down, which is kind of silly to say since they are working very close to the virus. It was at times like this I wanted to put the book down. But she kept me reading for hours somehow. The book cover talks about how the capital of the United States was moved because of Yellow Fever, yet in the novel there is hardly a mention of the story. That was the main reason I purchased this book.
A very interesting book to read! June 6, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I loved reading the first part of the book based in Memphis and was sad at first when that part of the story ended to tell the story of Cuba. After getting into the second part of the book I actually liked that part even better. This is two stories that are connected by Yellow Fever. It is a very good book and an excellent example of where a wrong but popular scientific view can not only get in the way of the scientists who are looking at new answers but also can end up costing the lives of so many people.
Fascinating June 3, 2008
I am finding this book completely fascinating and hard to put down. The book is giving me a clear picture of what Memphis was like during this time period that I've not found anywhere else. I've done a lot of research on Memphis because my family has lived here since the 1860's and one of my ancestors died in this epidemic. I wanted an understanding of this time period and epidemic and this has been enormously helpful. It helps me see why Memphis is the way it is today and the anquish of people who had no idea what caused or how to treat Yellow Fever. Highly recommended.
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