LS5603: Nonfiction1-- An American Plague by Jim Murphy

1.     BIBLIOGRAPHY
Murphy, Jim. An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793. New York: Clarion Books, 2003. ISBN 0-395-77608-2

2.     PLOT SUMMARY
In 1793 a fever swept through Philadelphia, causing a panicked mass exodus, stopping Congress for months (Congress met at Philadelphia at the time), and killing thousands by the time it was done. No one knew the cause, only the symptoms. At first, it presented as a normal fever--chills, shakes, but then it took a turn for the worse. The skin and eyeballs turned yellow and the patient began to bleed internally and vomit black blood. Doctors prescribed everything from doses of mercury and aggressive blood-letting to tea and chicken broth. Jim Murphy's book takes the reader on a journey following the rise and fall of yellow fever to present day, where it remains a menace even for modern medicine.  

3.     CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Jim Murphy manages to successfully put an incredible amount of facts into a narrative format, making the reading more enjoyable for teens. His layout of his sources at the end of the book is a little unusual--instead of citing each quote and fact, he lists his sources according to subject and, for  many of them, he comments on what is in the source. While this makes it so that a reader trying to verify quotes would find their job difficult, a reader who wanted additional reading has a long, annotated list of books, magazines, articles, and collections to peruse. 

The book is put together in a narrative fashion and follows the events fairly chronologically. Not only does it talk about the disease, the "breakthroughs" in cures during the time, and the heroes that appeared to help, but it also spends a surprising amount of time talking about how the fever influenced politics both then and how it influenced policies that still affect us today. The last chapter in fact jumps the reader from 1793 though the next two centuries to modern day, leaving the reader in a fairly sober state of mind as they are reminded that yellow fever still has no cure.The design and style makes it an obvious book for young adults. Pictures are included occasionally for flavor, though it looks like Murphy had trouble with pictures as there were very few people keeping records during the plague, much less drawing pictures of the area. Because of this, many of the pictures are from other plagues, and the similarities are mentioned in the captions. Murphy does try to give pictures of as many people as possible mentioned though, to give a face to names given, which is nice. Overall it is a great example of a successful informative book that makes history interesting without giving up the facts. 

4.     REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

• Boston Globe-Horn Book Award
• Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award
• James Madison Book Award
• National Book Award Finalist
• Orbis Pictus Award
• Newbery Honor Book
• From School Library Journal: "Murphy chronicles this frightening time with solid research and a flair for weaving facts into fascinating stories, beginning with the fever's emergence on August 3, when a young French sailor died in Richard Denny's boardinghouse on North Water Street. As church bells rang more and more often, it became horrifyingly clear that the de facto capital was being ravaged by an unknown killer. Largely unsung heroes emerged, most notably the Free African Society, whose members were mistakenly assumed to be immune and volunteered en masse to perform nursing and custodial care for the dying." 
• From Booklist: "History, science, politics, and public health come together in this dramatic account of the disastrous yellow fever epidemic that hit the nation's capital more than 200 years ago. Drawing on firsthand accounts, medical and non-medical, Murphy re-creates the fear and panic in the infected city, the social conditions that caused the disease to spread, and the arguments about causes and cures."

5.     CONNECTIONS
Other books by Jim Murphy:
·         Blizzard! The Storm That Changed America ISBN 0590673106
·         The Great Fire, ISBN 0439203074
·         Truce: The Day the Soldiers Stopped Fighting, ISBN 0545130492

 Follow-up activitiesHave the students do research on another disease, preferably one that’s caused epidemics on at least the scale of yellow fever. Have them compare and contrast the diseases. Which are curable today? Do any of them have vaccines? What are their causes? This can be easiliy tied into lessons about hygiene, the importance of sewage systems, information about various pests and bugs.Examples of other diseases
·         Typhoid
·         Smallpox
·         Bubonic plague (the black plague)
·         Measles
·         Malaria
·         Influenza
·         Cholera
·         HIV/AIDS
·         SARS
·         Ebola
·         Dengue fever
·         Mumps