An American Plague

Victims from the Influenza Epidemic of 1918

A few years ago, I got on a plague/epidemic kick. At that time, I read half-a-dozen books all about diseases. Some of these books included:

• The Great Influenza by John M. Barry
  
• Invisible Enemies: Stories of Infectious Diseases by Jeanette Farrell
• Dr. Jenner and the Speckled Monster: The Discovery of the Smallpox Vaccine by Albert Marrin.

This week I was assigned to read An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 by Jim Murphy for my adolescent literature class. Like the other titles, this book was terrifying.

Jim Murphy described, in detail, the symptoms of Yellow Fever and the panic that gripped the city of Philadelphia during the 1793 epidemic. Murphy wrote, "The skin and eyeballs turned yellow, as red blood cells were destroyed, causing the bile pigment bilirubin to accumulate in the body; nose, gums, and intestines began bleeding; and the patient vomited stale, black blood" (pages 13-14). How could I not recommend this book?

I also have to recommend Fever, 1973 by Laurie Halse Anderson. This book is historic fiction. It follows the lives of fictional and historical people during Philadelphia's Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1973.