Plague: A Story of Rivalry, Science, and the Scourge That Won't Go Away [Hardcover]

Edward Marriott (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 3, 2003 | ISBN-10: 0805066802 | ISBN-13: 978-0805066807 | Edition: 1st

A riveting account, at once a reconstruction of the race to find a cure, a history of bubonic plague, and an investigation into the threat of plague today
Plague. The very word carries an unholy resonance. No other disease can claim its apocalyptic or mythological power. It can lie dormant for centuries, only to resurface with ferocious, nation-killing force. Here, with the high drama of a great adventure tale, Edward Marriott unravels the story of this lethal disease: the historic battle to identify its source, the devastating effects of pandemics, and the prospects for the next outbreak.
Through a range of primary sources, Marriott takes us back to Hong Kong in the summer of 1894, when a diagnosis of plague brought two top scientists to the island-Alexandre Yersin, a lone, maverick Frenchman, and his eminent rival, the Japanese Shibasaburo Kitasato. Marriott interweaves his narrative of their fierce competition to discover the plague's source with vivid scenes of the scourge's persistence: California in 1900, when plague arrived in the United States; Surat, India, in 1994, where torrential floods drowned millions of rats, causing the worst epidemic in seventy years; and New York City, some time in the future, where there is a rat for every human being, a diminishing budget for pest control, and an emerging strain of plague that is resistant to antibiotics.
A masterly recounting of medical and human history, Plague is an instructive warning, a gripping account of history, and a chilling read.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A scourge of epic proportions, the plague raced through medieval Europe and Asia, killing millions. By the early 20th century, medical science confidently considered the rapacious disease under control. In 1996, however, the World Health Organization-which had recorded 24,000 plague cases over the previous 15 years-reclassified the plague as a "re-emerging disease." Various cultures in the past explained the pestilence as punishment from the gods, but it was not until the late 19th century in Hong Kong that two scientists isolated the bacteriological causes of the disease. Marriott's thrilling medical detective story re-creates vividly the challenges that the Japanese researcher Shibasaburo Kitasato and French bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin faced in Hong Kong in their race for an explanation and a cure. In 1894, Kitasato arrived first to find that the island's colonial authority had refused to accept the first signs of the plague that now ravaged Hong Kong. Kitasato was world-renowned for his research skills, and the British government allowed him unrestricted access to patients and to supplies. Although Yersin discovered the bacillus causing the plague, Kitasato published his findings (which turned out to be incorrect) first in the medical journals. Yersin went on to discover a vaccine for the plague, which he began administering in India in 1898. Later scientists discovered that rats carried plague, and subsequent campaigns to rid cities of rats followed. Marriott weaves an engrossing story of a 1994 plague outbreak in India into the chronicle of Yersin and Kitasato as an indication of how plague sits on our doorsteps waiting for the right opportunity to strike, in spite of the great advances of medicine.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

A contemporary history of the plague, from 1894, when top scientists Alexandre Yersin and Shibasaburo Kitasato vied to discover the source of a Hong Kong outbreak, to contemporary New York, which has as many rats as peopleDeven as a strain of the disease is becoming resistant to antibiotics.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Metropolitan Books; 1st edition (March 3, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805066802
• ISBN-13: 978-0805066807
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,749,256 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Cupidity, Arrogance, and Altruism, May 16, 2003

By 

Richard Wells (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Plague: A Story of Rivalry, Science, and the Scourge That Won't Go Away (Hardcover)

"Plague," is a briskly paced history for the non-specialist that opens with the graphic and frightening journey of a large rat through a Hong Kong market place that is a sure attention grabber. Author Edward Marriott also takes us to the back alleys and shantytowns of Africa, India, and the US as he explains the course of bubonic-plague, and the standard reactions of doctors and politicians wherever there's an outbreak.

On a planet as small, with a population as fragile, it's a constant surprise that earth-dwellers have such difficulty doing the "right thing." "Plague" is a another chronicle of cupidity, and arrogance in medical research, thankfully blessed by the altruism of field epidemiologists who literally risked their lives to investigate a cause and cure for the "black death."

The primary story is quite the thriller with two epidemiologists racing for an outcome - Shibasaburo Kitasato and his team coddled by Hong Kong's British governor, and Frenchman Alexandre Yersin, working alone and hampered by the governor. Although the results are history, "Plague," is enough of a thriller that I won't spoil the pleasure for readers who are not medical historians.

"Plague," had me glued to the page, and I recommend it to anyone who has a layman's interest in medical history.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's out there!, November 13, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Plague: A Story of Rivalry, Science, and the Scourge That Won't Go Away (Hardcover)

Plague, commonly known as The Black Death, has occurred in three major pandemics, and this is a fine history of the latest, which started in China in the late 19th century and spread worldwide from Hong Kong. Investigations into the nature of the disease in 1894 culminated in a contest between two early microbiologists, Kitasato and Yersin, a tale with obvious modern parallels. This historical footnote is one of the major themes of the book, but the author then follows the spread of Plague from Hong Kong to India and on to America. It has become entrenched in various wild animals worldwide. This is a great medical history, and one of the best of the rash of books on "killer diseases" that currently flood the market.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars rivalry between two scientists, January 27, 2004

By 

Karen Sampson Hudson "Karen Sampson Hudson" (Reno, NV United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Plague: A Story of Rivalry, Science, and the Scourge That Won't Go Away (Hardcover)

Edward Marriott's book is an interesting, well-written, anecdoctal account of two rival scientists studying the plague that struck Hong Kong in 1894. In the light of present day news stories of mad-cow disease, SARS, and other exotic ailments that possibly could pose a pandemic threat, Marriott's book is especially relevant.

Marriott brings the rat-infested harbor area and the exceedingly crowded, poor districts of the city to vivid life. The stark pictures of those soon-emptied areas, so quickly deserted by panicked residents, are chilling to view.

Recommended to all readers, and especially to those involved in public health issues.