The Speckled Monster: A Historical Tale of Battling Smallpox [Hardcover]

Jennifer Lee Carrell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 2003

"What is it like to be caught in the terror and chaos of a smallpox epidemic when you and those you love are unprotected? What is it like to get smallpox, or to watch your children battle the disease?" "The Speckled Monster tells the dramatic story - both historical and timely - of two parents who dared to fight back against the disease. After barely surviving the agony of smallpox themselves, they both flouted eighteenth-century European medical tradition by borrowing folk knowledge from African slaves and Eastern women in frantic bids to protect their children. From their heroic struggles stems the modern science of immunology as well as the vaccinations that remain our only hope should the disease ever be unleashed again." Jennifer Lee Carrell transports readers back to the early eighteenth century to tell the tales of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu and Dr. Zabdiel Boylston: two iconoclastic figures who helped save the cities of London and Boston from the deadliest disease mankind has known.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 496 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Group (2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0641606907
• ISBN-13: 978-0641606908
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,719,055 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I've wanted to be a writer for as long as I can remember. Early on, my fallback career choices were ballerina and astronaut. Much later, I thought I'd become a Shakespeare professor. Through some strange twists and turns, I've circled back to writing.

Storytelling should be an adventure, not just the stringing-together of other people's adventures. On the trail of stories, I have: rappelled from a six-story tower using an emergency hand-tied halter (while writing about the training of firefighters); tracked mountain lions on mule-back through the mountain range Geronimo used as home base and hideout; held Yo-Yo Ma's cello; ridden the roller-coaster ride of a professional cutting horse (herding cattle); and posed for David Hockney on a BBC set while stuffed into a medieval gown originally made for Star Trek, with a red-velvet turban improvised from a set of men's pants perched on my head. From the sublime to the ridiculous -- and all of it wondrous

I live in Tucson, AZ, with my husband, son, two dogs, and three cats (who try to help me type out my manuscripts).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars medicine vs politics, March 9, 2006

By 

Astrea (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Speckled Monster: A Historical Tale of Battling the Smallpox Epidemic (Hardcover)

Not since Laurie Garret's THE COMING PLAGUE have I enjoyed a book more. The detail of the research is tremendous and the story it tells-- of a medical breakthrough for the western world despite politics, racism and ignorance is fascinating. It is so easy to lose sight of the true terror caused by this disease. Carrell's work brings it to life.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't put it down, April 16, 2006

By 

tudoreng "tudoreng" (Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Speckled Monster: A Historical Tale of Battling Smallpox (Hardcover)

Maybe it's because I have a degree in both history and English, but this book suited my taste perfectly, and I was surprised at the negative reviews. I picked up the book and finished it in two days because I couldn't put it down. Ms. Carrell has made the tale read like a historical whodunit. I read her chapter, then her endnotes. If you like historical fiction and you also like historical nonfiction, I think you would enjoy this book.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars history comes alive, June 22, 2003

By 

Penelope A. Kendall "history buff" (Matthews, IN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Speckled Monster: A Historical Tale of Battling the Smallpox Epidemic (Hardcover)

An excellent book that reads like a novel but is the result of detailed research..as the chapter notes prove. More historians should write like this...