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Jim Murphy mixes good history with good storytelling in his latest award-winning book, An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793. Even though the book is based solidly in historical fact, it reads like fiction. It is a sensory experience: we hear the noise, smell the sewers and see the bodies deteriorating before the specter of yellow fever. In particular, Murphy's description of the sanitation in 1790s Philadelphia (at that time, still the capitol of the U.S.) is quite telling to the modern American reader: who today wouldn't immediately recognize the danger of dead animals clogging sewers and swarms of mosquitos breeding in stagnant water barrels?
As the yellow fever first appears, then begins its terrifying death march through the city, people wisely (or, in some cases, cravenly) begin to flee. Others stay. Some are too poor to travel; some are nursing sick family members; some take the opportunity to loot |
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abandoned houses or price-gouge the remaining citizens. Arguably the most admirable are those who willingly risk their own lives to fight the fever against impossible odds. The mayor, who has no authority to appropriate funds or take real action, but does so anyway because those who do have authority have all fled the fever. His committee, composed primarily of modest craftsmen, who shoulder the monumental task of cleaning up the stinking streets, carting away the dead, and caring for the sick. The Free African Society, who despite still-festering prejudices stay to nurse the sick and deliver food and other mercies to the helpless.
Not only is this book a chilling window on an epidemic, but it is a testament to the best of the human spirit. Young and old alike will find this book compelling - and, hopefully, they will discover the best of their own souls along the way. |
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