A National Bestseller, a New York Times Notable Book, and an Entertainment Weekly Best Book of the Year from the author of Extra Life “By turns a medical thriller, detective story, and paean to city life, Johnson’s account of the outbreak and its modern implications is a true page-turner.” —The Washington Post “Thought-provoking.” —Entertainment Weekly It’s the summer of 1854, and London is … “Thought-provoking.” —Entertainment Weekly
It’s the summer of 1854, and London is just emerging as one of the first modern cities in the world. But lacking the infrastructure-garbage removal, clean water, sewers-necessary to support its rapidly expanding population, the city has become the perfect breeding ground for a terrifying disease no one knows how to cure. As the cholera outbreak takes hold, a physician and a local curate are spurred to action-and ultimately solve the most pressing medical riddle of their time.
In a triumph of multidisciplinary thinking, Johnson illuminates the intertwined histories of the spread of disease, the rise of cities, and the nature of scientific inquiry, offering both a riveting history and a powerful explanation of how it has shaped the world we live in.
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How grim was life in London, with the Industrial Revolution (and for that matter the British Empire) in full swing? Behind the bright, prosperous façade of Regent Street, who were the mudlarks, toshers and the original Dustmen, and how did they live? What kind of landscape did they move through: its sights, its sounds; its smells? The opening scenes of Steven Johnson’s ‘The Ghost Map’ plunge us right in. They could be straight from Dickens. We even get to meet Karl Marx – or at least, his filthy, squalid rented room.
And what happened when, in the torrid late summer of 1854, cholera struck?
You could almost paraphrase this story as ‘A Vicar, a Yorkshireman, and a bureaucrat walk into a pub’ – because had the rapid growth of London never happened – the very growth that put urban lives in peril – then Henry Whitehead, John Snow, and William Farr would never have met, and the problem of how to stop Cholera in its tracks not have been solved. Or at least, not before tens of thousands in another generation had suffered.
We follow these characters both in their daily rounds of work and in their pursuit of answers – and then irrefutable proof – of Cholera’s mechanism, as they go door-to-door for detailed information in the stricken and incongruously named Golden Square and its surrounding sewage-ridden, impoverished streets.
We find out why the detailed work and irrefutable proof was needed, as we meet the characters of the medical establishment: from a small local committee, through the newly-formed public health apparatus, all the way up to ‘The Lancet’. Why did they doubt this straightforward and obvious explanation which we, nowadays, take for granted: that Cholera is water-borne? What was the fault at the medical establishment’s heart, and how was it eventually overcome? Steven Johnson takes us effortlessly from microscopic, to urban, and worldwide, scale.
Within walking distance of where I live, near his birthplace in North Street, York, is a monument to John Snow – a replica water-pump, complete with removed handle. I picked up ‘The Ghost Map’ through wanting to know the story behind it. It is beautifully and thoroughly told, complete with references and index.
My only tiny gripe would be that it was never ‘translated from the American’ – references to ‘sidewalks’, ‘diapers’ (yes they play a crucial role!) and ‘stories’ (as in, floors of buildings), when talking about Victorian London, can jar a little.
I’d recommend ‘The Ghost Map’ to anyone who enjoys a look into history, a classic detective story and, although it was written in 2006 (making some of its descriptions of contemporary epidemiology and mapping a little dated), a thought-provoking and prescient take on where we are now.
Oh – and the pub? It’s still there. It’s now called ‘The John Snow’.
We’ve come so far … and yet … have we really?
The Ghost Map: The Story of London’s Most Terrifying Epidemic–and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World, is an interesting and vivid document of the cholera that spread through London in 1854. A little repetitive at times, but otherwise a very interesting read.
The first 3/4 is 5 stars – a well written who-done-it where the killer is cholera and the search is for the mechanism by which cholera spreads. Brilliantly placed in a background of fascinating information about a myriad of subjects: the times, the development of major modern cities, the psychology of humans, the DNA sharing of bacteria – without which the story itself would be dry and fail to illuminate just how transformative /this/ cholera epidemic (1853) was. Oddly enough, almost a page-turner. The story flows and builds well.
The last quarter is musings, retreads, and meanderings. You can easily skip it and lose virtually nothing.
So glad I read this book, it was an eye opener.
A great historical read and scientific who-done-it. Authentic to the Times and people.
Okay, perhaps four stars for the first two-thirds of the book and three stars for the final third which kind of drones on and on about topics that have already been covered. So, as for those first two-thirds…
Who knew poop could so fascinating?! In his usual easy-to-read, slightly cheeky style Johnson covers the Victorian London cholera outbreak that devastated a neighborhood, about the long history of cholera in human society, and why beer (and tea) is good for you. These are all fascinating tidbits of history and trivia, but the book is also about the efforts of science and research to fight unproven, fear-driven “facts” about disease transmission and prevention.
This book was a good read about the discovery of how Cholera was spread. Good detective work.
History as it should be told..
Excellent history!
It is a true story about, really, the beginning of western epidemiology–a fabulous read for anyone interested in public health or 1850’s London. John Snow is my hero!! You’ve heard of the Broad Street pump? Well this is the real story—enjoy and be grateful to this small team of dedicated people!
A fascinating and true history of the search for ‘patient zero’ during a cholera outbreak in London.
My only disappointment was not having the modified map shown,
Very informative about the effects of cholera and the persistence of Dr. Snow and the Vicar to painstakingly determine the source of the cholera bacteria.
This book is the true story of the most terrifying epidemic to strike London back in 1845 – Cholera!
At that time the population of London was four times that of modern day New York crammed into mostly one and two storey houses. There was no proper sewage treatment system and there was a huge number of businesses operating within the city that spilled masses of biological rubbish onto the streets, quite apart from the manure of hundreds of horses. The smell was considerable. In addition very few houses had working toilets, with soiled bed sheets and clothing (from the cholera sick) were washed and the dirty water dumped into the basements, where the contents of the toilets also ended up. The theories of the day was that disease, Cholera among them, was caused by the foul air. Malaria being a case in point, the word being derived from the Italian: Mal – bad and aria – air.
There were also a doctor and a parish curate who worked independently for a few years to try to determine the precise cause of the disease.
Transmission by water was a prime suspect by the doctor, especially as drinking water was drawn from the River Thames and distributed by street pumps. In some places this water was drawn downstream from where some of the few existing sewer outfalls dumped into the river.
Much later, when water transmission was proven, a huge sewage treatment system was built which took the rubbish & sewage and dumped it into the Thames downstream from water take off points. All this sounds quite disgusting today when you realise that people were imbibing raw sewage, but it was only in 1966 that the raw sewage from the Island on which I live,stopped being discharged into the lake which surrounds us! Raw sewage had also been dumped into rivers and the sea nearby. Once this new system became effective, we were allowed back into the lake and salmon started to return. Isn’t it amazing how often the wheel has to be reinvented. The research that the author carried out to write this book must have been phenomenal and he must be congratulated on writing an intriguing and fascinating story. I loved it.