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A review by jeffburns
Black Death at the Golden Gate: The Race to Save America from the Bubonic Plague by David K. Randall
4.0
A deadly epidemic, originating in Asia, threatens the US. Politicians, the press, and scientists are divided and at odds with each other on how to deal with the threat. Various jurisdictions discuss and implement quarantines and start requiring health documents for travel. At-risk people are isolated. Large portions of the population lose faith in the government and the healthcare system. Many refuse vaccinations.
No, not 2020 and the pandemic. All of this took place in California in the first decade of the 20th century. In 1900, the first cases of bubonic plague, black death, occurred in San Francisco's Chinatown. Eventually, there are over 100 confirmed deaths, and probably many, many more hidden from authorities. While one bacteriologist, one of the first in America, recognizes the grave threat and fights it, politicians, the press, the US Surgeon General ( his boss), Chinese business and tong leaders, and President McKinley all actively conspire to deny the plague's existence and to destroy the career of the one man who knows what's going on.
This book, published in 2019, very much reads like an Erik Larsen or David Grann work- in other words, first-rate. ... And if you're that rare bird that has any remaining trust in politicians, journalists, or humanity in general, be prepared to lose some of it.
No, not 2020 and the pandemic. All of this took place in California in the first decade of the 20th century. In 1900, the first cases of bubonic plague, black death, occurred in San Francisco's Chinatown. Eventually, there are over 100 confirmed deaths, and probably many, many more hidden from authorities. While one bacteriologist, one of the first in America, recognizes the grave threat and fights it, politicians, the press, the US Surgeon General ( his boss), Chinese business and tong leaders, and President McKinley all actively conspire to deny the plague's existence and to destroy the career of the one man who knows what's going on.
This book, published in 2019, very much reads like an Erik Larsen or David Grann work- in other words, first-rate. ... And if you're that rare bird that has any remaining trust in politicians, journalists, or humanity in general, be prepared to lose some of it.