An American Plague Summary

The 18th century had been a world of unknown scientific and medical exploration. Across the globe, many kingdoms and countries had faced a similar complication that baffled even the most educated physicians and politicians. Every summer civilians would meet with their local doctors and grumble about their bodily issues, but each doctor had discovered the same symptoms. On August 3, 1793 the city of Philadelphia had a devastating disease lurking in the streets and alleyways. Jim Murphy, an American author of “An American Plague”, is an author to more than 35 nonfiction and fiction books for children and young adults, also winning multiple awards for his accurate and such accomplished work. The variety of subjects in history to choose from had

In Philadelphia 1973 early August, a robust and fatal disease had emerged through the garbaged pavement roads and city ‘sinks’. Dr. Hugh Hodge was one of the first to encounter the deadly disease, and it taking the life of his daughter days before meeting with a new patient with the same grotesque symptoms. Hugh and his colleague Dr. John Foulke cautiously cared for Catherine LeMaigre, reciting and reviewing previous documents that would provide treatments for such a harmful, painful disease. The tactics both the Doctor’s had used didn’t help with Catherine’s well being, and thus astonishing them since they haven’t ever seen prestigious methods shot down. Dr. Benjamin Rush, a well respected man and founding father of the United States, had rushed to the news of Catherine, and then decided the fatal disease was Yellow Fever. Many of the physicians at the time in Philadelphia dismissed Rush’s claim as crazy and spontaneous. Rush had thought and expressed the rest of those in the same profession as him were

The most interesting part was how the people hadn’t any idea what was the best for them, or even the Doctor’s hadn’t looked at each other 's research as thoroughly or respectfully enough to come to a legitimate conclusion about the disease. The overall descriptions provided by the author was enough to explain to the reader what had been the situation in Philadelphia 1793. Jim Murphy had spread his efforts in all of the sections in the book equally, and to the reader it would make it less complicated to understand the concepts. “An American Plague” provides a strong educational opportunity to the reader, and the path Jim Murphy had taken in writing in a memorable way gives plenty of information about the summer of 1793 in Philadelphia. The audience of this book should be for young adults, and “An American Plague” is suitable with the vocabulary, description and maturity to be exposed with certain