Epidemic A Collision Of Power, Privilege, And Public Health

by DeKok, David

• ISBN13: 9780762760084
• ISBN10: 0762760087
• eBook ISBN(s): 9780762787227
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-02-01
• Publisher: Lyons Press
• More Book Details
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Summary

The dramatic account of a turn-of-the-twentieth-century struggle against a frightening disease with lessons for todayThe Epidemictells the story of how a vain and reckless businessman became responsible for a typhoid epidemic in 1903 that devastated Cornell University and the surrounding town of Ithaca, New York. Eighty-two people died, including twenty-nine Cornell students. Protected by influential friends, William T. Morris faced no retribution for this outrage. His legacy was a corporationfirst known as Associated Gas & Electric Co. and later as General Public Utilities Corp.that bedeviled America for a century. The Three Mile Island nuclear accident in 1979 was its most notorious historical event, but hardly its only offense against the public interest.The Ithaca epidemic came at a time when engineers knew how to prevent typhoid outbreaks but physicians could not yet cure the disease. Both professions were helpless when it came to stopping a corporate executive who placed profit over the public health. Government was a concerned but helpless bystander.For modern-day readers acutely aware of the risk of a devastating global pandemic and of the dangers of unrestrained corporate power,The Epidemicprovides a riveting look back at a heretofore little-known, frightening episode in America's past that seems all too familiar. Written in the tradition ofThe Devil In the White City, it is an utterly compelling, thoroughly researched work of narrative history with an edge. Praise for the author's previous book,Fire Underground "Enough bureaucratic villains to fill a Dickens novel." New York Times Book Review "DeKok has not only reported and written a compelling first-hand account of how an underground fire destroyed Centralia, but he even gives us an anatomy of how the disaster happened and analyzes its implications for one community, and in a sense for all of us. A thoughtful and thoroughly engrossing read!" Lisa Scottoline, author ofDirty Blonde,a fictional story about CentraliaDavid DeKokis the author ofFire Underground: The Ongoing Tragedy of the Centralia Mine Fire(Globe Pequot Press), which previously appeared asUnseen Danger.A former award-winning investigative reporter for thePatriot-Newsin Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, he has been a guest onFresh AirandThe Diane Rehm Show. In 2009, he appeared at length in Episode 6 of the History Channel'sLife After Peopleseries discussing Centralia, Pennsylvania.

Author Biography

David DeKok is a former investigative reporter for The Patriot-News in Harrisburg, Pa., where he specialized in coverage of the utility industry for the past dozen years. He won first place reporting awards from The National Press Club, the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association, and Associated Press Managing Editors of Pennsylvania. His first book, Unseen Danger: A Tragedy of People, Government, and the Centralia Mine Fire, was published by University of Pennsylvania Press in 1986 and was reissued by Globe Pequot Press as Fire Underground. Unseen Danger was reviewed in the Sunday New York Times Book Review of Jan. 4, 1987, and was the subject of a national story by Associated Press.

 

DeKok appeared on Fresh Air and The Diane Rehm Show to promote his first book. In 2007, he explained the Centralia mine fire in the documentary film, The Town That Was, which screened in competition at the Los Angeles and Philadelphia film festival. In 2009, he  appeared at length in Episode 6 of The History Channel’s Life After People series discussing Centralia, Pennsylvania.

Table of Contents

Prelude: June 16, 1903	p. ix
Ithaca and Its Kings	p. 1
The Boys Club	p. 11
Conflict of Interest	p. 21
Newsmen	p. 34
The Dam	p. 45
Lives of the Students	p. 59
The Valley of Death	p. 70
Typhoid, and How the Epidemic Began	p. 82
Denial	p. 92
Apocalypse	p. 111
The Fixer	p. 121
Going Home	p. 142
The Man Who Saved Ithaca	p. 155
The Man Who Saved Cornell University	p. 173
Retribution	p. 182
Epilogue: Getting Away with Murder	p. 196
Afterword: The Conquest of Typhoid	p. 212
Acknowledgments	p. 216
Endnotes	p. 220
Bibliography	p. 266
Index	p. 275
About the Author	p. 299
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