Jerome Groopman, M.D., author of The Measure of Our Days Second Opinions and the forthcoming The Anatomy of Hope (Random House, Spring 2004) There is much to learn about how to confront uncertainty from this remarkable tale." Chase brings to life a largely forgotten story-in vivid prose and at a pulse-quickening pace-of a time when America's character was tested. "Outbreaks of disease can catalyze either courage or cowardice in individuals and society. Erik Larson, bestselling author of The Devil in the White City But Chase’s book is also simply a great story of a long-past time when a few heroic men, armed with only the most basic knowledge of infectious disease, stood up to the powers arrayed against them and, through ingenuity and intuition, at last ran this epidemic to ground.” The city’s leaders, even its health department, fought the news of the plague’s arrival more aggressively than the disease itself, despite the deaths of dozens of victims. “If the folks at Homeland Security read one book this year, let it be Marilyn Chase’s The Barbary Plague, for the way it captures in precise detail how political and business imperatives can impede the battle against a deadly epidemic, in this case the bubonic plague-the fabled Black Death-in old San Francisco. “Chase, with her elegant, subtle writing, brings alive the human victims, particularly the often-tragic lives of Chinese laborers trying to make a life for themselves.” “An involving medical detective story.richly atmospheric consistently enthralling.”
A pleasure to read, full of people, dramatic situations, individual foibles and collective hard work.The story, 100 years old, has much to teach us about today.”
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