Quarantine!: East European Jewish Immigrants and the New York City Epidemics of 1892

by Howard Markel

Winner of the Arthur Viseltear Award for Outstanding Book in the History of Public Health in the Medical Care Section from the American Public Health Association In Quarantine! Howard Markel traces the course of the typhus and cholera epidemics that swept through New York City in 1892. The story is told from the point of view of those involved―the public health doctors who diagnosed and treated the victims, the newspaper reporters who covered the stories, the government officials who established and enforced policy, and, most importantly, the immigrants themselves. Drawing on rarely cited stories from the Yiddish American press, immigrant diaries and letters, and official accounts, Markel follows the immigrants on their journey from a squalid and precarious existence in Russia's Pale of Settlement, to their passage in steerage, to New York's Lower East Side, to the city's quarantine islands. At a time of renewed anti-immigrant sentiment and newly emerging infectious diseases, Quarantine! provides a historical context for considering some of the significant problems that face American society today.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History, Economics

280 pages, Paperback

First published May 14, 1997

About the author

Howard Markel, M.D., Ph.D., is the George E. Wantz Distinguished Professor of the History of Medicine, professor of pediatrics and communicable diseases, professor of psychiatry, and director of the Center for the History of Medicine at the University of Michigan. His books include the award- winning Quarantine! and When Germs Travel. His articles have appeared in The New York Times, The New England Journal of Medicine, and The Journal of the American Medical Association. A member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, Markel lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan."

Reviews

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book disappointed me. However, it could have been a question of my expectations going into it. Markel is a practicing physician and his analysis of typhoid and cholera is excellent. His take on the relationship between race and/or ethnicity, immigration, and health policy feels hallow compared to other work. He does not, for example, investigate how 19th century Americans understood human rights-- which seems to be the framework he at least implicitly employs to critique the actions NYC's health officers took in1892. Additionally, his narrow focus on Jewish immigrants in NYC too tightly restricts his arguments and fails to suggest how other racial and ethnic minorities experienced public health law. As a study of NYC's Jewish population, this is a fine text. If you are looking for broader investigations of 19th century rights, public health law, and race/ethnicity, I suggest you look elsewhere.

[Joelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seriously such an important book for people in public health. Would definitely recommend.

[Rick Elinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Markel concentrates on two epidemics in New York City in 1892 - typhus and cholera. He shows the interplay between medical knowledge, public health measures, societal prejudices, and immigration. Although occasionally repetitive, the well-researched account weaves together these strands. "Quarantine" is particularly relevant in fall 2014 with the twin concerns of Ebola and immigration reform in the headlines.

[Victoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

most of the people in my class complained that it was dry but I liked it. It's date and fact based and reads like a normal non-fiction history book. It was repetitive though