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Bring Out Your Dead: The Great Plague of Yellow Fever in Philadelphia in 1793
(Studies in Health, Illness, and Caregiving)
by
In 1793 a disastrous plague of yellow fever paralyzed Philadelphia, killing thousands of residents and bringing the nation's capital city to a standstill. In this psychological portrait of a city in terror, J. H. Powell presents a penetrating study of human nature revealing itself. Bring Out Your Dead is an absorbing account, form the original sources, of an infamous trage
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Paperback, 334 pages
Published
June 1st 1993
by University of Pennsylvania Press
(first published 1949)
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Start your review of Bring Out Your Dead: The Great Plague of Yellow Fever in Philadelphia in 1793
The whole time I wanted to shout "MOSQUITOS! It is the MOSQUITOS!" I loved this book. But I also love public health and epidemiology...
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This book does not read as if it was written nearly three-quarters of a century ago. Not only is it engaging and easy to follow (though a familiarity with at least the names of the main figures of the Early Republic will be helpful to any prospective reader), it gives far more space to the heroic efforts of Black Philadelphians and refugees than I ever expected to find in a mid-century academic work that didn't have these specific groups as its research focus. The book is ostensibly focused on D
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Feb 14, 2010
madsenmel
is currently reading it
Another find from my trip to Philly. Great book so far...plenty of facts and information, but not really textbook-y.
“Grim and fantastic senselessness” is the author’s description of the yellow fever in Philadelphia in 1793. And an apt description it is. Approximately 10 percent of city’s population died in the late summer/fall of the year -- a number disproportionately representing the poor and sick who could not escape the city.
Yet the well-to-do were not immune. A sad part of this story is the indiscriminate way the fever killed. At the time, a large part of the city’s leadership fled the city -- the poor, ...more
Yet the well-to-do were not immune. A sad part of this story is the indiscriminate way the fever killed. At the time, a large part of the city’s leadership fled the city -- the poor, ...more
In 1793, Philadelphia was the center of the new United States. It was the legal capital, the largest shipping port, the center of commerce and trade, the leading city for the study of medicine and learning in general.
The winter had been mild. That summer there was a drought and, with no municipal water system, people captured rainwater in open barrels for their use. During the summer, the city experienced an influx of people fleeing a bloody slave rebellion in Santo Domingo. With them came the ...more
The winter had been mild. That summer there was a drought and, with no municipal water system, people captured rainwater in open barrels for their use. During the summer, the city experienced an influx of people fleeing a bloody slave rebellion in Santo Domingo. With them came the ...more
Jan 30, 2014
Shawn Marie Hardy
rated it
really liked it
Recommends it for:
historians, those interested in medicine
Recommended to Shawn Marie by:
I found it by accident.
This book was really hard to get into but I'm glad I stuck with it. It was very informative and really made me feel thankful that we have the modern comforts that we have today. I envision life in 1793 full of people smelling like camphor and vinegar, and the streets of urine and feces and dead meat.
It was interesting to find out that a makeshift government sort of just happened during this time, and it confirms my beliefs that we need some sort of government in order to succeed as a society. B ...more
It was interesting to find out that a makeshift government sort of just happened during this time, and it confirms my beliefs that we need some sort of government in order to succeed as a society. B ...more
This book goes beyond history to provide an account of individual heroism and nobility. The primary hero is Dr. Benjamin Rush, who led the fight against the plague of yellow fever in Philadelphia of 1793. The book is both well-written and well-researched, filled with details about the plague and its effect on all aspects of life in Philadelphia starting in the summer of 1793. Caribbean refuges brought the Yellow Fever. Philadelphia's ravenous mosquitoes provided the perfect vehicle for spreading
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I was interested to read this book because of the many references to it in the annotations to Arthur Mervyn.
The author considers the physician Benjamin Rush one of the heroes of this story. He worked tirelessly and helped instill confidence and hope in the people of Philadelphia during a time of terror, in spite of the fact that his cure for the yellow fever--aggressive bloodletting and mercury--likely killed more of his patients than no treatment at all.
"Panic is cured, not by reason, but by fi ...more
The author considers the physician Benjamin Rush one of the heroes of this story. He worked tirelessly and helped instill confidence and hope in the people of Philadelphia during a time of terror, in spite of the fact that his cure for the yellow fever--aggressive bloodletting and mercury--likely killed more of his patients than no treatment at all.
"Panic is cured, not by reason, but by fi ...more
In 1793 a terrible plague of yellow fever struck the city of Philadelphia, killing thousands and bringing the city to a standstill. All government functions were halted as thousands fled the stricken city. Even President Washington and the rest of the federal government fled while the epidemic raged. (At that time, Philadelphia was the nation's capital.)
Using contemporary source material, Powell examines the disease itself and describes the measures doctors took to cure it. He discusses how peo ...more
Using contemporary source material, Powell examines the disease itself and describes the measures doctors took to cure it. He discusses how peo ...more
With yellow fever spreading in South America, I figured I'd look at how it affected things here during one outbreak in Philadelphia in 1793.
It was pretty much your typical chaos, with an exodus of people who were able to leave and a long, challenging time for those who couldn't. While describing the progress of the outbreak and the way those still around dealt with it (they made their own government!), the book also emphasizes the state of medicine and the place of physicians in society at that ...more
It was pretty much your typical chaos, with an exodus of people who were able to leave and a long, challenging time for those who couldn't. While describing the progress of the outbreak and the way those still around dealt with it (they made their own government!), the book also emphasizes the state of medicine and the place of physicians in society at that ...more
Probably the #1 thing that people who know me don't know about me is that I love epidemics. Do you remember the Google map overlay with morbidity/mortality statistics for H1N1? I refreshed it every 5 minutes. Anyway.
This book is a little bit about the Philadelphia yellow fever epidemic and a little bit about Benjamin Rush (the most-respected doctor in the US at the time), but mostly it's about what people do when they confront problems that they don't understand and can't solve. Some people flee ...more
This book is a little bit about the Philadelphia yellow fever epidemic and a little bit about Benjamin Rush (the most-respected doctor in the US at the time), but mostly it's about what people do when they confront problems that they don't understand and can't solve. Some people flee ...more
Decent bit of history and a lovely reappraisal of Benjamin Rush, pompous medical assclown of the colonial era. No matter how much Powell pulls his punches and gives a kind and sympathetic word to Dr. Rush, I relished his laying down the reckoning with the verity that bleeding persons suffering from fever can only kill them faster.
Sadly, for Powell, this book made me yearn for Hans Zinsser's Rats, Lice, and History, my favorite book on plague. ...more
Sadly, for Powell, this book made me yearn for Hans Zinsser's Rats, Lice, and History, my favorite book on plague. ...more
"Bring out your dead" did not originate as a Monty Python catch-phrase. It was an urgent call to clear homes of the deceased as the plague swept through cities both in Europe in America. This book, by J.H. Powell, details the horrors of the 1793 yellow fever epidemic that descended on Philadelphia, as well as providing fascinating insights into medical and social history. A compelling read.
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On the small shelf dedicated to medical disaster stories, Bring Out Your Dead is a standout. Fascinating insights into the important role played by Haiti in the early American republic, and also the early Black population of Philadelphia.
Fascinating, if gruesome, subject matter. Writing was fairly dry at times. Having grown up in and around Philadelphia, it was interesting to read of places I know well, places which no longer exist and learn a little bit about some of the well-known local persons.
An excellent read and very informative about the yellow fever in Philadelphia. It is amazing that the city survived and thrived after the chaos of this epidemic. It's not footnoted but good end notes.
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You are so glad you live now. You are so glad you have modern medicine. And sanitation. And screens for your windows. And air conditioning. And refrigeration.
A very informative book on the yellow fever that devastated the U.S. back in the 18th century.
Outstanding and very interesting book about Yellow Fever. A good template for understanding how yellow fever affected any colonial town.
This was an interesting read. As we sit in the middle of a pandemic, I’m obsessed with all literature of the viral disease variety. I enjoyed the writing and found similarities between what we are dealing with and what the citizens of Philadelphia experienced. Yellow Fever is not transmissible by humans, but they didn’t know that at the time.
Highly descriptive account of the crisis in Philadelphia I assigned by the Yellow Fever epidemic of 1793. Lacking analysis but chock full of details the book gives a vivid account of the events of August through November of that year.
Loved this! A work of nonfiction written like a novel it had me turning each page eager to see the developments of this fever of 1793. It also gave me lots more to look into reading.
Very interesting read from 1949 about the 1793 yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia. Such similarities and parallels of human behavior, fears and needs when compared to the current coronavirus pandemic.
I read this book so long ago I can no longer make relevant comments. I recall enjoying the reading, so it's a good read.
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John Harvey Powell (1914-1971) graduated from Swarthmore College and earned his Ph.D. degree in American History at the University of Iowa. Powell was Randolph Adams Memorial Lecturer at the University of Michigan and received the A. S. W Rosenbach Fellowship in Bibliography at the University of Pennsylvania. He was the author of The Books of a New Nation, also published by the University of Penns
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