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David DeKok
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The Epidemic: A Collision of Power, Privilege, and Public Health Hardcover – January 1, 2011

by David DeKok (Author)

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The Epidemic tells how a vain and reckless businessman became responsible for a typhoid epidemic in 1903 that devastated Cornell University and the surrounding town of Ithaca, N.Y. Eighty-two people died, including 29 Cornell students. Protected by influential friends, William T. Morris faced no retribution for this outrage.

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  1. Print length
    304 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Lyons Press
  4. Publication date
    January 1, 2011
  5. Dimensions
    6.21 x 1.1 x 9.29 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0762760087
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0762760084
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Ithaca's typhoid outbreak was nearly forgotten after more than a century, but last year author David DeKok's book "The Epidemic" was published. In the fashion of gripping fiction, DeKok tells the true story with stunning detail.--Food Safety News, April 4, 2012.

From the Inside Flap

The Epidemic tells the story of how a vain and reckless businessman became responsible for
a typhoid epidemic in 1903 that devastated Cornell University and the surrounding town
of Ithaca, New York. Eighty-two people died, including twenty-nine Cornell students. Protected by influential friends, William T. Morris faced no retribution for this outrage. His legacy was a corporation—first known as Associated Gas & Electric Co. and later as General Public Utilities Corp.—that bedeviled America for a century. The Three Mile Island nuclear accident in 1979 was its most notorious historical event, but hardly its only offense against the public interest.
The Ithaca epidemic came at a time when engineers knew how to prevent typhoid outbreaks but physicians could not yet cure the disease. Both professions were helpless when it came to stopping a corporate executive who placed profit over the public health. Government was a concerned but helpless bystander.
In this emotionally gripping book, David DeKok, a former award-winning investigative reporter
and the author of widely praised books on the mine fire that devastated Centralia, Pennsylvania, brings this tragedy home by taking us into the lives of many of those most deeply affected.
For modern-day readers acutely aware of the risk of a devastating global pandemic and of the dangers of unrestrained corporate power, The Epidemic provides a riveting look back at a heretofore little-known, frightening episode in America’s past that seems all too familiar.Written in the tradition of The Devil in the White City, it is an utterly compelling, thoroughly researched work of narrative history with an edge.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Lyons Press
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 1, 2011
  • Edition ‏ : ‎ First Edition
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0762760087
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0762760084
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.31 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.21 x 1.1 x 9.29 inches
  • Best Sellers Rank: #2,519,651 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

About the author

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David DeKok

David DeKok

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David DeKok writes non-fiction books about crises in small American towns and the people who live in them. He has written two books about the Centralia (Pa.) mine fire, Unseen Danger and Fire Underground, and one about a deadly typhoid epidemic in 1903 that devastated Ithaca, New York, and Cornell University. His most recent book, Murder in the Stacks, is about the murder in the Penn State library in 1969 of a young woman from his hometown, Betsy Aardsma. He lives in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and is a correspondent for Reuters.