An American Plague

Citation: Murphy, Jim. An American Plague. New York: Clarion Books, 2003


Age: 12 and up

Genre: Non-Fiction

Themes: Yellow Fever, Politics, Life in the 1700's

Main Characters: No main characters

Plot Summary

An American Plague is the story of the Yellow Fever during the late summer and early fall of 1793. It tells about the quick spread of the Yellow Fever throughout the city of Philadelphia and all the events that followed. The misunderstanding of sickness during this time period led to the plague killing thousands of people. During this time many people fled the city to escape the disease while others stayed risking their lives to help the sick and dieing. The American Plague speaks about the many heroes that worked hard to end the plague as quickly as possible. The book goes onto to explain how the real cause of the Yellow Fever was eventually discovered.

Writing Style:

An American Plague is told in the third person narrative.


Assessment of Quality and Utility

An American Plague explains in thorough detail what happened during the Yellow Fever onslaught in 1793. The life of the people during this time is told in great detail as well. This is a great book for students who must learn about this time period because it gives all the facts but in an interesting way. The book keeps the readers attention and helps the reader understand what it would feel like to go through such a devastating event.

An American Plague could be used in a Biology class to show students how the study of disease has evolved over the past few centuries. It could open up discussion on how the misunderstanding of bacteria and viruses has led to many deaths in our nation’s past. This book could also be used in Social Studies classroom to open up discussion of this time period.