2010 Spring Literary Launch - Bring Out Your Dead
With the attention given to swine flu and other epidemics and
pandemics, we started wondering - what happened in human history? Is
it really all that bad? For Spring 2010, our honors community will be
reading "Bring Out Your Dead: The Great Plague of Yellow Fever in Philadelphia in 1793"
by J.H. Powell. We are thrilled to have many of our honors alumni
reading the book with us for dinner discussions and blog postings!
This fascinating topic gives us a local connection and foundation for
our fieldtrips to the Mutter Museum and the disease tour of Laurel Hill
Cemetery.
Book Synopsis
Today, as fatal outbreaks of infectious diseases continue to confound the medical community worldwide, this account of one city's struggle in the face of overwhelming odds has particular resonance.
In this psychological portrait of a city in terror, J.H. Powell presents a penetrating study of human nature revealing itself. Bring Out Your Dead is a fascinating account, from the original sources, of an infamous tragedy that left its mark on all it touched. Readers of this compelling narrative will encounter an unusually graphic depiction of the daily life and society of an early American city. In their introduction, Kenneth R. Foster, Mary F. Jenkins, and Anna Coxe Toogood illuminate how much has changed in the city of Philadelphia - but how little has changed in the potential spread of any disease.
Book Synopsis
Today, as fatal outbreaks of infectious diseases continue to confound the medical community worldwide, this account of one city's struggle in the face of overwhelming odds has particular resonance.
In this psychological portrait of a city in terror, J.H. Powell presents a penetrating study of human nature revealing itself. Bring Out Your Dead is a fascinating account, from the original sources, of an infamous tragedy that left its mark on all it touched. Readers of this compelling narrative will encounter an unusually graphic depiction of the daily life and society of an early American city. In their introduction, Kenneth R. Foster, Mary F. Jenkins, and Anna Coxe Toogood illuminate how much has changed in the city of Philadelphia - but how little has changed in the potential spread of any disease.
A good title is the title of a successful book.
~ Raymond Chandler ~
~ Raymond Chandler ~
