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Quarantine!: East European Jewish Immigrants and the New York City Epidemics of 1892 [Paperback]

Howard Markel (Author)

5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

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Product Details

Paperback: 262 pages
Publisher: Hopkins Fulfillment Service; 1 edition (April 26 1999)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0801861802
ISBN-13: 978-0801861802
Product Dimensions: 2.3 x 1.5 x 0.2 cm
Shipping Weight: 386 g

Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #937,822 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

From Library Journal

A Ph.D. in the history of science, medicine, and technology, Markel is director of the Historical Center for the Health Sciences at the University of Michigan. Here he skillfully explores the social, cultural, medical, and political issues surrounding the quarantine of East European Jewish immigrants during the typhus and cholera epidemics in 1892 New York City. He cites an impressive array of primary and secondary sources, including Yiddish American newspapers, congressional records, public health records, and the personal correspondence of public health officials and of the immigrants themselves. Using these materials, Markel supports very effectively his assertion that although the epidemics were indeed public health threats, the quarantine of the Jewish immigrants had more to do with prejudice, class distinctions, and political scapegoating than with the consistent employment of the scientific method. Highly recommended for medical history collections, this book would be an excellent companion to Alan M. Kraut's broader Silent Travelers: Germs, Genes, and the Immigrant Menace (LJ 1/94).?Ximena Chrisagis, Wright State Univ., Dayton, Ohio
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

A revealing cultural and medical history that demonstrates how eastern European Jews, already subject to a kind of social quarantine, became the scapegoats when typhus and cholera struck New York City in 1892. Markel, a clinicial historian who now directs the Historical Center for Health Sciences at the University of Michigan Medical School, documents the quarantine year through immigrant diaries and letters, Jewish social-agency reports, government files, and the press--both Yiddish and American. Liberal use of photographs, maps, cartoons, diagrams, and drawings add to the impact of Markel's powerful narrative. When an outbreak of typhus fever in January 1892 was traced to the SS Massilia, which carried 268 Russian Jewish immigrants, every single one, sick and healthy alike, along with several thousand healthy Jews with whom they had been in contact, were quarantined on North Brother Island in the East River. The focus was not on treatment of the ill but on isolation of the suspect group and protection of the native-born. Later that year, when cholera struck, Russian Jewish immigrants were again targeted. Whereas the typhus epidemic had been managed by the New York City Health Department, the cholera outbreak brought federal and state authorities into contentious play. Markel reveals how prejudice, fear, and anti-immigrant sentiment shaped both public reaction and official policy. He points out that the intertwining of immigration policy with fear of imported disease and social scapegoating that marked this episode in our history continues to the present day, and he notes that responses to future public health crises will be as much a measure of society's perceptions of health, disease, and individual rights as they are of medical and scientific understanding. A valuable contribution to the history of public health in America, to New York City history, and to American Jewish history. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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First Sentence
In February 1892, an epidemic of typhus fever erupted on New York City's Lower East Side. Read the first page

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Customer Reviews

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5.0 out of 5 stars I loved this book!, Jun 27 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Quarantine!: East European Jewish Immigrants and the New York City Epidemics of 1892 (Paperback)

I was assigned to read this book for a history course I took at the University of California at Los Angeles. Like most students, I thought, great, one more book to read. But unlike all the other texts my professor assigned that term--this one blew my socks off! It was great! Well-written, with a pulsating plot, great historical "characters", neat descriptions of diseases of another time. I am recommending it to all my friends and now to all of you on Amazon. Read "Quarantine!"

Ellen F., Los Angeles

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5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful Book! The American "Hot Zone" of the 1890s, July 5 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Quarantine!: East European Jewish Immigrants and the New York City Epidemics of 1892 (Paperback)

Quarantine is a wonderful book! Dr. Markel has written an excellent history of epidemics in New York City during the 1890s--which was a true-life Hot Zone for cholera and typhus. Richly illustrated and beautifully written!

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5.0 out of 5 stars THE best book I have read on epidemics!, Feb 9 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Quarantine!: East European Jewish Immigrants and the New York City Epidemics of 1892 (Paperback)

I have read a lot of books on epidemics and american history and I must say this is the best I have read. Markel does a superb job of bringing the reader right into the hearts and minds of those involved in the epidemics in New York of 1892. He also manages to tell a hell of a good story. No boring historical monograph--this is a scholarly thriller--well documented and well told. I loved it!

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant! A compelling and beautifully told story.
I just finished reading Quarantine! and found it to be the best book I have read in years. A compelling story of two epidemics imported into the United States by Russian Jewish... Read more

Published on Oct 22 1999