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3.5 

An American Plague

By Jim Murphy
An American Plague by Jim Murphy digital book - Fable

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Publisher Description

National Book Award Finalist:  An account of the disease that ravaged eighteenth-century Philadelphia, written and illustrated for young readers.
 
1793, Philadelphia: The nation’s capital and the largest city in North America is devastated by an apparently incurable disease, cause unknown…
 
This dramatic narrative describes the illness known as yellow fever and the toll it took on the city’s residents, relating the epidemic to the social and political events of the day and eighteenth-century medical beliefs and practices. Drawing on first-hand accounts, Jim Murphy spotlights the heroic role of Philadelphia’s free blacks in combating the disease, and the Constitutional crisis President Washington faced when he was forced to leave the city—and all his papers—to escape the deadly contagion. The search for the fever's causes and cure provides a suspenseful counterpoint to this riveting true story of a city under siege.
 
Winner of multiple awards, this thoroughly researched book offers a look at the conditions of cities at the time of our nation’s birth, and draws timely parallels to modern-day epidemics.
 
“A lavishly illustrated book, containing maps, newspaper columns and period illustrations…unflinchingly presents the horrors of the event as well as its heroes.”—The New York Times 
 
“Pair this work with Laurie Halse Anderson’s wonderful novel Fever 1793 and you’ll have students hooked on history.”—School Library Journal
 
“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.”—Booklist

117 Reviews

3.5
“A glance of what briefly happened in those days of plague and how it came about & the treatment that was observed & incorporated during 1700s-1800s. 3.7/5 ⭐️”

About Jim Murphy

Jim Murphy's nonfiction books have received numerous awards, among them two Newbery Honors, the Sibert Medal, three Orbis Pictus awards, the Margaret A. Edwards award, the James Madison Book Award, and a National Book Award nomination. Born and raised in New Jersey, Jim lives in Maplewood, NJ, with his family.  jimmurphybooks.com.

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