- Paperback: 384 pages
- Publisher: FSG Adult (Oct 1 2002)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 080907821X
- ISBN-13: 978-0809078219
- Product Dimensions: 20.8 x 14 x 2.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 204 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #486,391 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
In this engaging, creative history, Fenn (Natives and Newcomers) addresses an understudied aspect of the American Revolution: the intimate connection between smallpox and the war. Closed-in soldiers' quarters and jails, as well as the travel demands of fighting, led to the outbreak of smallpox in 1775. George Washington ended an outbreak in the north by inoculating American soldiers (the colonists had a weaker immune system against smallpox than the British). Indeed, Fenn makes a plausible case that without Washington's efforts, the colonists might have lost the war. Despite the future president's success at "outflanking the enemy" of smallpox, however, the disease spread on the Southern front, where there was "chaos, connections, and a steady stream of victims." Even as the war ended, the increased contact between populations spread the disease as far as Mexico and the Pacific Northwest. The outbreak eventually killed an estimated 125,000 North Americans more than five times the number of colonial soldiers who died (to her credit, Fenn admits that these numbers are inexact). Along the way, Fenn, who teaches history at George Washington University, recounts the fate of many blacks freed under a British "emancipation proclamation" of sorts; promised their freedom if they fought for the British, several thousand ex-slaves perished from smallpox. She also traces the disease's effect on the North American balance of power by devastating some Native American tribes in the 1780s. Long after the war, whites kept Native Americans passive with explicit threats of infection. Fenn has placed smallpox on the historical map and shown how intercultural contact can have dire bacterial consequences.38 b&w illus. not seen by PW.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.From Library Journal
Many books have been written about smallpox, but few have this volume's scholarly focus. Fenn (history, George Washington Univ.) relies heavily on primary documents to illustrate the disease's devastating impact on the political and military history of North America during the Revolutionary War. Excerpts from diaries, letters, presidential papers, and church and burial records provide first-hand accounts of the spread of this disease. The result is an extensive discussion of the role of smallpox in the Colonial era, but the book's main strength is in the detailed analysis of smallpox among Native Americans, from Mexico to Canada. Fenn's study of the historical horrors of this devastating disease nicely complements Jonathan Tucker's Scourge (LJ 8/15/01), which considers what the future may be like if smallpox returns. Highly recommended for academic and medical libraries. Tina Neville, Univ. of South Florida at St. Petersburg Lib.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
"On Sunday, July 2, 1775, a much-older George Washington stepped out of a carriage in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to take command of the Continental army, newly established by the Congress still meeting in Philadelphia." Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
"On Sunday, July 2, 1775, a much-older George Washington stepped out of a carriage in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to take command of the Continental army, newly established by the Congress still meeting in Philadelphia." Read the first page
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Concordance
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent study. . .,
By Jen Grover (Portland, ME United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Pox Americana (Paperback)
What a fantastic single-vision narrative. This text adds an interesting new dimension to an entire time period. Exceptional research on individual experiences.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Remarkably Good.,
By
This review is from: Pox Americana (Paperback)
This is an excellent work. It bogs down a bit in the second half but only for 30 or so pages as the author gets into the detail of some purported statistical analysis, information that could have been handled as an appendix. But overall it is a wow!Starting with the impact of smallpox on the American Revolution, 1775 - 1782, Elizabeth Fenn continues her study with concurrent analyses of Mexico, where Church burial records provide a very solid underpinning for the magnitude of the epidemic, the Canadian interior, the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. The devastation was appalling Fenn's effort was no simple task. The unexpected bonus is that for the first time I began to understand the magnitude of trading patterns that had been established by Native Americans on the North American Continent, before the arrival of Europeans. This is a wonderful book, very enlightening and very well worth your time.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Timely Lesson from History,
By A Customer
This review is from: Pox Americana (Hardcover)
This moment in American history is not the first time that Americans have debated protection from Smallpox. Ms. Fenn has painted a haunting picture of an earlier America with the same inability to decide what was the proper course of action given the valid arguments both for and against mass population protection. I was fascinated to learn that George Washington himself was initially against mass inoculation and later in favor of it. From Ms. Fenn's book, I understood the fear of the populace that led to laws prohibiting inoculation. She has managed to paint a picture of an epidemic that helped me to understand the sheer panic that led to people inoculating themselves by cutting and packing those cuts with the scabs taken from already sick victims. Yikes. Sometimes a bit wordy with this date and that, I skipped the transmission dates and routes for the most part, although I have to say that the transmission routes between Mexico and the young U.S. was surprising to me.
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