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Plague: A Story of Rivalry, Science, and the Scourge That Won't Go Away
Plague A Story of Rivalry Science and the Scourge That Won't Go Away Author:Edward Marriott A riveting account, at once a reconstruction of the race to find a cure, a history of bubonic plague, and an investigation into the threat of plague today — Plague. The very word carries an unholy resonance. No other disease can claim its apocalyptic or mythological power. It can lie dormant for centuries, only to resurface with ferocious,... more » nation-killing force. Here, with the high drama of a great adventure tale, Edward Marriott unravels the story of this lethal disease: the historic battle to identify its source, the devastating effects of pandemics, and the prospects for the next outbreak.
Through a range of primary sources, Marriott takes us back to Hong Kong in the summer of 1894, when a diagnosis of plague brought two top scientists to the island-Alexandre Yersin, a lone, maverick Frenchman, and his eminent rival, the Japanese Shibasaburo Kitasato. Marriott interweaves his narrative of their fierce competition to discover the plague's source with vivid scenes of the scourge's persistence: California in 1900, when plague arrived in the United States; Surat, India, in 1994, where torrential floods drowned millions of rats, causing the worst epidemic in seventy years; and New York City, some time in the future, where there is a rat for every human being, a diminishing budget for pest control, and an emerging strain of plague that is resistant to antibiotics.
A masterly recounting of medical and human history, Plague is an instructive warning, a gripping account of history, and a chilling read.« less