The American Plague The Untold Story of Yellow Fever, the Epidemic that Shaped Our History

by Crosby, Molly Caldwell

• ISBN13: 9780425212028
• ISBN10: 0425212025
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-11-07
• Publisher: Berkley Hardcover

Summary

Slave ships brought it to America as far back as 1648-and over the centuries, yellow fever epidemics plagued the United States. Carried along the mighty Mississippi River, it ravaged towns from New Orleans to St. Louis. New York City lost 2,000 lives in one year alone. It even forced the nation's capital to relocate from Philadelphia to Washington, DC. The American Plaguereveals the true story of yellow fever, recounting Memphis, Tennessee's near-destruction and resurrection from the epidemic-and the four men who changed medical history with their battle against an invisible foe that remains a threat to this very day.

Author Biography

Molly Caldwell Crosby has written articles for Newsweek, Health, and National Geographic, as well as USA Today and Washington Women.

Table of Contents

Author's Note	vii
PROLOGUE: A House Boarded Shut	1	(4)
PART ONE: The American Plague	5	(10)
PART TWO: Memphis, 1878	15	(76)
CHAPTER 1: Carnival	17	(13)
CHAPTER 2: Bright Canary Yellow	30	(7)
CHAPTER 3: The Doctors	37	(12)
CHAPTER 4: A City of Corpses	49	(10)
CHAPTER 5: The Destroying Angel	59	(15)
CHAPTER 6: Greatly Exaggerated	74	(7)
CHAPTER 7: The Havana Commission	81	(6)
CHAPTER 8: Reparations	87	(4)
PART THREE: Cuba, 1900	91	(118)
CHAPTER 9: A Splendid Little War	93	(6)
CHAPTER 10: Siboney	99	(8)
CHAPTER 11: An Unlikely Hero	107	(13)
CHAPTER 12: A Meeting of Minds	120	(11)
CHAPTER 13: The Yellow Fever Commission	131	(9)
CHAPTER 14: Insects	140	(10)
CHAPTER 15: Vivisection	150	(3)
CHAPTER 16: Did the Mosquito Do It?	153	(8)
CHAPTER 17: Guinea Pig No. 1	161	(6)
CHAPTER 18: Camp Lazear	167	(17)
CHAPTER 19: A New Century	184	(2)
CHAPTER 20: Blood	186	(5)
CHAPTER 21: The Etiology of Yellow Fever	191	(2)
CHAPTER 22: Retribution	193	(10)
CHAPTER 23: The Mosquito	203	(6)
PART FOUR: United States, Present Day	209	(26)
CHAPTER 24: Epidemic	211	(5)
CHAPTER 25: A Return to Africa	216	(8)
CHAPTER 26: The Vaccine	224	(6)
CHAPTER 27: History Repeats Itself	230	(5)
EPILOGUE: Elmwood	235	(5)
Acknowledgments	240	(4)
Notes	244	(39)
Selected Bibliography	283	(14)
Index	297