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Black Death at the Golden Gate: The Race to Save America from the Bubonic Plague by David K. Randall
lindsayb09's review against another edition
5.0
A very readable and well written book about a period of US history I had never heard about. The author did a great job introducing the wide cast of characters and explaining the medical science in a clear and concise way. The book covers not only medical history, but the political history of California and the rampant racism against Chinese immigrants that helped to shape these events.
lisaeirene's review against another edition
1.0
Struggled to stay interested. It felt redundant and didn't move along quickly enough to hold my interest.
alenert's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
Listened on audio - really enjoyed. Not a fun topic, but it was an engaging book. I can't imagine how 😳 I would've been when COVID hit had I read this when I first acquired it in 2019... the similarities in the reaction are startling. (Maybe not to someone versed in global health, but for me who was/is fairly oblivious.)
CW for disease, death, graphic descriptions of diseased bodies, racism, animal testing/death (mostly rats)
CW for disease, death, graphic descriptions of diseased bodies, racism, animal testing/death (mostly rats)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Xenophobia, Death, and Racism
yellowchevron's review
3.0
Truly fascinating book. I had no idea that we’d ever had plague outbreaks in this country, let alone in such recent history. It got a little redundant toward the end but still definitely worth reading.
jess_segraves's review against another edition
4.0
This isn’t the easiest read given the current state of affairs, but it was a great one. Did you know that in the late 1800s, San Francisco was at the cusp of the bubonic plague, with a resurgence following the 1906 earthquake? This fast-moving, well-written, and engaging narrative nonfiction book covers its discovery, treatment, and mitigation along with the sentiment and politics around it. Consider this: Anti-Asian racism. Fragile male egos. Infighting among city, state, and federal authorities on public health matters. Fake news. Looks like not much has changed in the last 150 years. Also, I would say this one is NOT for the squeamish!
maddyb001's review against another edition
1.0
DFN a lot of tiny details about bureaucratic infighting.
thedizzyreader's review against another edition
"There is not, and never has been, a noble generosity in California."
All hail Rupert Blue, white male savior of Chinatown, remarkable man of the time for noticing disease is no respecter of race... I got really bored reading about the heroic efforts of white male men in this book. It's amazing to me that the author can talk about Rupert Blue's later push for pasteurized milk without mentioning the USDA's first female scientist, Alice Catherine Evans. In fact the contributions of women in microbiology or any scientific field at the time aren't mentioned at all, at least not that I remember reading.
The author did a great job framing the issue in a political, historical and worldwide context, and obviously did a lot of research. And I can also count on one hand the number of times the author quoted from the Chinese Western Daily, as opposed to the numerous references to the San Francisco Chronicle and other white newspapers. All of this contributed to the feeling I was reading a lopsided account of history, one in which I rarely heard the voice of the people most impacted by the race to save America from the bubonic plague.
All hail Rupert Blue, white male savior of Chinatown, remarkable man of the time for noticing disease is no respecter of race... I got really bored reading about the heroic efforts of white male men in this book. It's amazing to me that the author can talk about Rupert Blue's later push for pasteurized milk without mentioning the USDA's first female scientist, Alice Catherine Evans. In fact the contributions of women in microbiology or any scientific field at the time aren't mentioned at all, at least not that I remember reading.
The author did a great job framing the issue in a political, historical and worldwide context, and obviously did a lot of research. And I can also count on one hand the number of times the author quoted from the Chinese Western Daily, as opposed to the numerous references to the San Francisco Chronicle and other white newspapers. All of this contributed to the feeling I was reading a lopsided account of history, one in which I rarely heard the voice of the people most impacted by the race to save America from the bubonic plague.
uberbutter's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
In the early 20th century the Bubonic plague would make its way to the US via ship. People started dying and it was a race to get it under control because pandemics aren't fun. People panicked, scientists hurried to find the cause, racism was rampant against the Asian population (Chinatown was a big hub for the illness), people refused to take precautions, and some straight up thought it was a conspiracy theory and laughed at it all. Proving that people were just as big jackasses 120 years ago as they can be today. Even in recent years the plague is still present in the US but in very small numbers and is often curable because yay science and medicine!!
This is a fascinating, well researched, well written history book. I was sucked in from the beginning. It only took me a couple days to cruise through Black Death at the Golden Gate and I learned about a part of history I didn't know much about which I personally find fun. Worth the read if you enjoy the popular history genre.
This is a fascinating, well researched, well written history book. I was sucked in from the beginning. It only took me a couple days to cruise through Black Death at the Golden Gate and I learned about a part of history I didn't know much about which I personally find fun. Worth the read if you enjoy the popular history genre.