Steven Johnson is an accomplished author who tells a compelling, well written and informative book, The Ghost Map, which tells an intriguing story of the 1854 cholera outbreak in London while at the same time provides a wide array of information surrounding the thoughts and beliefs of the majority of the current society.
This book follows an esteemed doctor and a local clergyman who, together, are the heart of an investigation to solve the mystery of the cholera epidemic. In 1854 London was ravaged by a terrible outbreak of cholera, where within the span of mere weeks over five hundred people in the Soho district died. London, at the time, was a city of around two and a half million people, all crammed into a small area with no system for sewage removal. With overflowing cesspools, improper drainage of all the human and animal waste, and no system for guaranteed clean water, the people of London were in a bad state. They were essentially dumping all of their feces into their drinking water supply, a perfect environment for cholera to thrive.
Johnson’s story follows the journeys of characters we come to know well and their reactions to the cholera outbreak. Our interest is kept by the ongoing revelation of important information, and the developing conflict between a major character and his view of the epidemic versus that of majority of others, both in the scientific community and the population at large. He keeps us guessing about how and if the mystery will be solved and at the same time recreates a world that is completely unknown to us.
The setting is London in 1854, which is very different to anything we know today. Johnson’s description of this time and place makes it seem like a whole other world from the here and now....
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... that it combined the perfect amount of medical history, scientific fact and storytelling; creating a brilliant account that kept me wanting to find out more. It was full of interesting information that helped me to understand more about the cholera epidemic and the views of public health and medical practice of the people in 1854 London.
Works Cited
Christopher Hamlin, “Edwin Chadwick, ‘Mutton Medicine’, and the Fever Question,” Bulletin of the History of Medicine 70 (1996): 233-265.
Pamela K. Gilbert, “’Scarcely to be Described’: Urban Extremes as Real Spaces and Mythic Places in the London Cholera Epidemic of 1854,” Nineteenth Century Studies 14 (2000): 149-72.
Mary Poovey, “Domesticity and Class Formation: Chadwick’s 1842 Sanitary Report,” in Making a Social Body: British Cultural Formation, 1839-1864 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995), 115-131
The book, The Ghost Map, tells the story of the cholera outbreak that took place in England during the medieval era. During this time, London became popular, causing it to become one of the most populous urban cities in England. However, it suffered from overcrowding, a large lower class, and little health regulations. As a result, living conditions and water supply were not the cleanest, and many died from the disease cholera. Though this epidemic led to many deaths/illnesses during it’s time, it has proven to be helpful and important to public health today. Some public health advancements that have occurred as a result include healthier, cleaner, and longer lives lived.
Since Plagues and Peoples covers several subjects of knowledge, he helps the reader understand key concepts by fully explaining parasitism and its dependence on humans and animals. People in the field of history, which make up a majority of this books audience, would need more insight into epidemiology to grasp its key concepts. It would not be likely for a historian to be knowledgeable in a branch of medical science that deals with the incidence, distribution, and control of disease in populations.
Snow attempted to inform and educate those he came in contact with, advising them to avoid the Broad Street pump’s water. Inform, educate, and empower is another aspect of public health I will be expected to engage in. Later, Dr. Snow brought his findings to the attention of the local health board as well as the neighborhood parish. The parish was ultimately more willing to hear out his theory, and despite the theory’s contradictory stance to miasma, they went ahead and removed the offending water pump’s handle. One could even argue that this interaction was in alignment with yet another essential element of public health: mobilization. By working with the parish, Dr. Snow mobilized a community partner – in this case, the parish – to action. One of the more interesting aspects of his work was that in mobilizing the parish, he turned one of his more heated critics, Reverend Whitehead, into a
"The Plague." Novels for Students. Ed. David M. Galens. Vol. 16. Detroit: Gale, 2002. 202-222. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 3 Apr. 2011.
McNeil WH. Plagues and peoples: a natural history of infectious diseases. New York: Anchor Press,1976.
F. F. Cartwright, “The Years of the Plague”, in A Social History of Medicine (London: Longman, 1977), pp. 58-74.
Kira L. S. Newman, “Shutt Up: Bubonic Plague and Quarantine in Early Modern England,” Journal of Social History, 3, (2012): 809-834
The city has been evolving for the better since the times of widespread disease and famine that once hit “urbanized cities” during the industrial revolution. During the 1800’s diseases like typhoid, cholera and tuberculosis impacted people in a way where it was expected
The City of Dreadful Delight starts with some cultural analysis of the historical background that helped to produce the social landscape of Victorian London. In discussing the transformation of London, Walkowitz argues for seeing more than merely a shift from one type of city to another but rather a conflicted layering of elite male spectatorship, the “scientific” social reform, and W. T. Stead's New Journalism. Here Walkowitz investigates the “Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon.” The “Maiden Tribute” consisted of a series of articles, authored by Stead and presented in the penny press, which exposed the sale of girls into prostitution. According to Walkowitz, these stories relied on the new scientific methods of social investigation, but the...
Cholera has been affecting humans for many centuries. Cholera is a severe gastrointestinal disorder that is characterized by severe diarrhea and vomiting. There have been many outbreaks of cholera noted historically, the most important occurring in 19th century England. In 1854, Dr. John Snow performed a study in London that led to his discovery of the disease’s main source. He was able to trace it to the poor sewer, waste, and water management from one of the major water sources of London residents, the “Broad Street pump”. When this water pump was removed, the deaths by cholera slowed and eventually stopped. Although he had not
He also demonstrates the validity of constructing a microhistory around a particular focus upon an individual – and this deviates from most commonplace forms of writing microhistories. Throughout his book, Wrightson manages to challenge the idea of the Plague being truly as bleak as most of the pessimistic writings of the times suggest it as being. A complete abandonment of camaraderie, spurred by the fear inspired by the Plague, is often touted by such literature. Wrightson questions the validity of this vision of the Plague, at least of the one Ralph Tailor lived through. His conclusions are much less severe, and offer a brighter alternative than the one predominantly suggested – of a people, in some cases, united in a time of great need, and he cites several examples to support this. As has been previously discussed, a methodology involving the writing of a microhistory allows for many advantages when it comes to viewing evidence from a new perspective. To name one, it allows for readers to properly engage in an understanding of the everyday lives of the people involved by viewing them from a closer or more comprehensive perspective. Not only this, but in Wrightson’s case, it has allowed him to proceed from looking at a single individual to the city that surrounds that individual. As Rab Houston comments, “[Wrightson’s] approach is scholarly yet at the same time imaginative and deeply sympathetic”. Wrightson makes a bold yet effective approach with this work in many respects. This methodology’s usefulness and worth, then, cannot be underestimated, and is doubtlessly of great
As the western world expand many people became ill with cholera because of overcrowding in living space, in some cities overcrowding often involved quarters below street level, where water was constantly seeping in the living area. In many Latin and African country the cholera virus is more common because of poor hygiene, poor sanitation and lack of education on public health. In an outbreak, the source of the contamination is usually the feces of an infected person that contaminates water or food. The disease can spread like wild fire in areas with poor treatment of sewage and drinking water. In Europe in the 1800s many people became infected with cholera because there water drawn from the nearby streams and rive...
It is, perhaps, a dated novel. However, it is important in its delineation of the social, political, and economic forces that were at work in England from 1835 -- 1850, and it is an attempt to bring them all into harmonious focus.
Albert Camus’ The Plague is an influential existentialist novel that vividly depicts the impact of a plague have on a community. Set in the French Algerian city of Oran in the 1940s but based on the Black Plague that swept Europe in the Middle Ages, Camus draws on a large cast of character to portray and embody the historical impact that the plague on both the populace and society. Uniting the experiences of the various characters is Doctor Rieux, who play the role of a plague chronicler, and in the process demonstrates the impact of the plague on religion, social structures, and community morals.
Many people think that the increased travel and trade between the world’s nations improved people’s lives. Although this increase had a positive effect, travel and trade also brought disasters. Foreign travelers and traders contributed to the wide spread of infectious diseases like cholera. A look at the general information, sources of infection and risk factors, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention and control will give a further insight on cholera.