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Although Crosby dedicates a significant amount of the book to medical investigations, I would describe this account of yellow fever as more cultural than epidemiological. She doesn‘t delve deeply into any of the virology or the nitty gritty scientific details. The American Plague has two main subjects; the 1878 outbreak in Memphis & the work of Walter Reed, et al. on the Yellow Fever Board in Havana. Full review: https://wp.me/p2P6GA-5ga

The story of yellow fever is the story of a merciless scourge which wiped out whole communities. The people who battled the disease were fascinating. Lena Angevine Warner would have perished with the rest of her family during the Memphis 1898 Yellow fever epidemic if not for the bravery of a family servant who dared enter a house of death to save her. She became a nurse who battled Yellow Fever in Cuba, facing her old enemy many times.

It was sobering to read this account of such a devastating time in my city's history. This sign honors those that stayed behind to tend the sick and dying during the Memphis Yellow Fever epidemic of 1878.

Yellow fever? And here I thought it was the electoral college...

My birthday haul: The American Plague by Molly Caldwell Crosby, The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald, The Ghost in the Shell 1.5: Human-Error Processor by Masamune Shirow, and The Girl With the Lower Back Tattoo by Amy Schumer.

#HappyBirthdayToMe #BookHaul