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The story of London's most terrifying epidemic -- how it changed science, cities and the modern world.
Riverhead
October 2006
On Sale: October 19, 2006
320 pages
ISBN: 1594489254
EAN: 9781594489259
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
A thrilling historical account of the worst cholera outbreak
in Victorian London-and a brilliant exploration of how Dr.
John Snow's solution revolutionized the way we think about
disease, cities, science, and the modern world. From the dynamic thinker routinely compared to Malcolm
Gladwell, E. O. Wilson, and James Gleick, The Ghost Map is a
riveting page-turner with a real-life historical hero that
brilliantly illuminates the intertwined histories of the
spread of viruses, rise of cities, and the nature of
scientific inquiry. These are topics that have long obsessed
Steven Johnson, and The Ghost Map is a true triumph of the
kind of multidisciplinary thinking for which he's become
famous-a book that, like the work of Jared Diamond, presents
both vivid history and a powerful and provocative
explanation of what it means for the world we live in. The Ghost Map takes place in the summer of 1854. A
devastating cholera outbreak seizes London just as it is
emerging as a modern city: more than 2 million people packed
into a ten-mile circumference, a hub of travel and commerce,
teeming with people from all over the world, continually
pushing the limits of infrastructure that's outdated as soon
as it's updated. Dr. John Snow-whose ideas about contagion
had been dismissed by the scientific community-is spurred to
intense action when the people in his neighborhood begin
dying. With enthralling suspense, Johnson chronicles Snow's
day-by-day efforts, as he risks his own life to prove how
the epidemic is being spread. When he creates the map that traces the pattern of outbreak
back to its source, Dr. Snow didn't just solve the most
pressing medical riddle of his time. He ultimately
established a precedent for the way modern city-dwellers,
city planners, physicians, and public officials think about
the spread of disease and the development of the modern
urban environment. The Ghost Map is an endlessly compelling and utterly
gripping account of that London summer of 1854, from the
microbial level to the macrourban-theory level-including,
most important, the human level.
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