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Black Death at the Golden Gate: The Race to Save America from the Bubonic Plague by David K. Randall
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.
sherwood's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
4.0
The wicked irony of this being published in late 2019. If I were this author, I would have said, finally! My book is published! I'm done! No longer do I have to spend my days reading and thinking about fatal contagious diseases- no more, I say, so more! Ah, what a nice break I'll have, in which I don't have to think about pandemics and how government response can fuel massive waves of racism towards marginalized groups used as scapegoats for a problem that government officials exacerbated with their own ineptitude! I am free! Free at last! Free to enjoy my New Years among friends and family, who I will obviously continue to see often, indoors, at large events, frequently. Bon Voyage, my friends, I hope that 2020 treats you well!
I am not this author, and I live in 2022, and in hindsight, maybe the only time this book could have been written was directly before 2020. It walks a perfect tightrope walk between narrative and fact, and takes the time to explore every little facet of a problem- just as epidemiologists do. Randall stuck a stick of dynamite in the issue and sent all the plague-ridden facts scurrying from their holes for him to collect and document. And he did it all while keeping the book around 300 pages.
Also the only book I've read this year (or maybe ever?) that's included the word "rattery".
9/10
I am not this author, and I live in 2022, and in hindsight, maybe the only time this book could have been written was directly before 2020. It walks a perfect tightrope walk between narrative and fact, and takes the time to explore every little facet of a problem- just as epidemiologists do. Randall stuck a stick of dynamite in the issue and sent all the plague-ridden facts scurrying from their holes for him to collect and document. And he did it all while keeping the book around 300 pages.
Also the only book I've read this year (or maybe ever?) that's included the word "rattery".
9/10
gordonj's review against another edition
5.0
As a long time San Francisco resident, I found this bit of history fascinating and frighteningly familiar. It’s the birth of San Francisco as a major industrial port and the plague is spreading through the population in Chinatown. Scientists know they have to do something before the disease spreads as it did in other countries, but politicians don’t want to sully the reputation of California’s most famous city and ruin its financial prospects. So while the scientists work hard to identify and eradicate the disease, the politicians work equally hard to spread disinformation about the health risks. All this feels depressingly similar to the current “debate” over global warming, with scientific fact fighting a losing battle against economic interests. In Randall’s historical account, truth defeats dishonesty and prejudice. We can only hope it does again in our current climate of opportunism and greed.
heykellyjensen's review against another edition
A fascinating, engrossing, and at times downright enraging look at the spread of bubonic plague in San Francisco at the turn of the 20th century. The book follows how two doctors recognized what was going on and how one was let down turn after turn, allowing the disease to spread because of inadequate funding and support -- as well as rampant xenophobia and racism -- while the other doctor was able to make inroads and discover that it was a specific type of flea that spread the disease to rats and then onto people. He helped develop a public health system and ways to combat the further spread of plague (even though anyone who has spent time in the west or southwest knows it exists still, and that's touched on here a bit in regards to the wild squirrels).
Randall doesn't shy away from the realities of racism and classism, and he does a great job framing the situation in San Francisco with the greater things going on in the US and around the world at the same time. The earthquake is covered and offers sort of the ah ha moment of figuring out why the disease was spreading the way it was, followed later by further understanding of its spreading in Los Angeles following World War I and the Spanish Influenza.
The history of disease, and plague especially, is fascinating to me, and Randall writes the history in a compelling, engaging manner. Readers who dig this and are open to reading nonfiction for youth would do well with [b:Bubonic Panic: When Plague Invaded America|25898508|Bubonic Panic When Plague Invaded America|Gail Jarrow|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1447716936s/25898508.jpg|45781367] as well, which is how I was already aware of the history of the plague in America.
Randall doesn't shy away from the realities of racism and classism, and he does a great job framing the situation in San Francisco with the greater things going on in the US and around the world at the same time. The earthquake is covered and offers sort of the ah ha moment of figuring out why the disease was spreading the way it was, followed later by further understanding of its spreading in Los Angeles following World War I and the Spanish Influenza.
The history of disease, and plague especially, is fascinating to me, and Randall writes the history in a compelling, engaging manner. Readers who dig this and are open to reading nonfiction for youth would do well with [b:Bubonic Panic: When Plague Invaded America|25898508|Bubonic Panic When Plague Invaded America|Gail Jarrow|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1447716936s/25898508.jpg|45781367] as well, which is how I was already aware of the history of the plague in America.
mspris's review against another edition
4.0
This is a fascinating book that looks at a part of the history of the United States that I honestly had no familiarity with. I found it to be historically and modernly relevant and very thought provoking - and it's amazing that the play of politics and money working against the spread of knowledge and disease didn't end up being so much worse for the country. It's also a little scary to think that this could potentially happen again.
shanaqui's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
4.0
Did you know that there was an outbreak of Yersinia pestis in San Francisco in 1900? And that the disease which caused the Black Death remains endemic in squirrels in the US to this day?
If that's frightening, don't worry too much for right now: it's quite rare for a human to become infected in the US (usually around 7 people per year), and it still responds readily to treatments. For now, we don't need to worry about huge outbreaks of bubonic plague (or pneumonic plague) spreading through the US population and to the world. But in 1900, that nightmare situation was still very real, and the health service were the only thing standing in the way -- in a San Francisco that was focused on individual profit, built on the gold rush.
It starts off as a quite slow read, because the scientist in charge of Angel Island at that time was not exactly a compelling figure. Kinyoun was a brilliant scientist, but an indifferent doctor and a racist, and incapable of building warm bonds with the people around him. He failed to get a grip on the disease, and managed to make himself so hated that he just about needed an armed guard to finally leave the city.
It's a later member of the service who managed this. His academic chops were not so impressive, and he even had a slight reputation for laziness, but he had the gift of listening to the expertise of others, and making connections where others were burning bridges. He was so successful that he was sent back to San Francisco again and again in quest of finally reaching 0 human infections -- and off the back of this, Rupert Blue eventually became the Surgeon General of the US. I was fascinated to read about him, to learn that he also supported a national health service in the US, and best of all, that he apparently attended my current university (London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine)?!
I did really enjoy this book, and especially the mini-biography of Blue. The way he synthesised information and created connections to get the work done is exactly what a public health officer needs to do, and he makes a perfect example.
If that's frightening, don't worry too much for right now: it's quite rare for a human to become infected in the US (usually around 7 people per year), and it still responds readily to treatments. For now, we don't need to worry about huge outbreaks of bubonic plague (or pneumonic plague) spreading through the US population and to the world. But in 1900, that nightmare situation was still very real, and the health service were the only thing standing in the way -- in a San Francisco that was focused on individual profit, built on the gold rush.
It starts off as a quite slow read, because the scientist in charge of Angel Island at that time was not exactly a compelling figure. Kinyoun was a brilliant scientist, but an indifferent doctor and a racist, and incapable of building warm bonds with the people around him. He failed to get a grip on the disease, and managed to make himself so hated that he just about needed an armed guard to finally leave the city.
It's a later member of the service who managed this. His academic chops were not so impressive, and he even had a slight reputation for laziness, but he had the gift of listening to the expertise of others, and making connections where others were burning bridges. He was so successful that he was sent back to San Francisco again and again in quest of finally reaching 0 human infections -- and off the back of this, Rupert Blue eventually became the Surgeon General of the US. I was fascinated to read about him, to learn that he also supported a national health service in the US, and best of all, that he apparently attended my current university (London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine)?!
I did really enjoy this book, and especially the mini-biography of Blue. The way he synthesised information and created connections to get the work done is exactly what a public health officer needs to do, and he makes a perfect example.