An American Plague Summary

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The nonfiction book I choose for my summer reading was An American Plague: the True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 by Jim Murphy. An American Plague is about an invisible plague that mainly took place in Philadelphia, the plague nearly destroyed Philadelphia. The symptoms of the illness are a high fever, severe vomiting, painful aches and headaches. Many people at first did not pay attention to the fevers first victims, but as the deaths kept increasing, people started to take notice of the invisible killer. Dr. Benjamin Rush, who was a skilled physician in Philadelphia and had dealt with the yellow fever, was first to notice the invisible killer in Philadelphia. He immediately reported his suspicions to other doctors and officials, but they didn’t listen to Dr. Rush. Many doctors assumed that the odors and the dumped cargo of coffee were the answer to the …show more content…
An American Plague is riveting and presents a lot of historical facts, but also keeps the book fast paced and sometimes creates fear in readers. An American Plague has won the Sibert Medal, Newberry Honor Medal, and was the finalist for the National Book Award. Jim Murphy gives you a visual image, by showing readers pictures along with the text, his pictures included clippings from newspapers, the aftermath of victims from the plague, and many significant people. He is not biased toward any sides and tells the full truth of the events, both good and bad. Jim Murphy has published around thirty books related to American History, such as The Great Fire which won a Newberry Honor Award, The Boys War which won a Golden Kite Award for nonfiction, and many more. If you are interested in American history combined with a fast paced story, then this book is for you. These are some reasons why The American Plague is well-crafted

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