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Staff Pick
This captivating book paints a vivid portrait of San Francisco at the dawn of the 20th century: the heart of the West Coast, where gleaming opportunity and virulent racism play out as a wave of bubonic plague sweeps through the city. Groundbreaking bacteriologists must contend with corrupt politicians as they fight to save lives during the outbreak. A thrilling read, good for fans of The Devil in the White City. Recommended By Mary S., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
For Chinese immigrant Wong Chut King, surviving in San Francisco meant a life in the shadows. His passing on March 6, 1900, would have been unremarkable if a city health officer hadn't noticed a swollen black lymph node on his groin--a sign of bubonic plague. Empowered by racist pseudoscience, officials rushed to quarantine Chinatown while doctors examined Wong's tissue for telltale bacteria. If the devastating disease was not contained, San Francisco would become the American epicenter of an outbreak that had already claimed ten million lives worldwide.
To local press, railroad barons, and elected officials, such a possibility was inconceivable--or inconvenient. As they mounted a cover-up to obscure the threat, ending the career of one of the most brilliant scientists in the nation in the process, it fell to federal health officer Rupert Blue to save a city that refused to be rescued. Spearheading a relentless crusade for sanitation, Blue and his men patrolled the squalid streets of fast-growing San Francisco, examined gory black buboes, and dissected diseased rats that put the fate of the entire country at risk.
In the tradition of Erik Larson and Steven Johnson, Randall spins a spellbinding account of Blue's race to understand the disease and contain its spread--the only hope of saving San Francisco, and the nation, from a gruesome fate.
Review
“David K. Randall has created a meticulously researched history that unfolds like a thriller. I raced through this book in two days (horribly, the span of time it took bubonic plague to fell a victim). The unlikely heroes — bacteriologists and public health officers with long, flowing beards — battle villains most vile: racism, rotten politics, disregard for science, and Yersinia pestis. Black Death at the Golden Gate is both a page-turner and a cautionary tale: those villains still lurk.” Mary Roach, New York Times best-selling author of Grunt
Review
“A haunting detective tale packed with villains and heroes, Black Death at the Golden Gate shows how bigotry and greed almost brought a major U.S. city to ruin — and how science and courage saved it. The events in this book may be a hundred years old, but its message is as urgent as ever.” Jason Fagone, author of the national bestseller The Woman Who Smashed Codes
Review
“A complex tale of medicine, politics, race, and public health…Randall does good work in revealing the clamorous clash of public and private interests surrounding the outbreak…A tale that resonates with the outbreak of measles, mumps, and other supposedly contained epidemics today.” Kirkus Reviews
About the Author
David K. Randall is a senior reporter at Reuters. The New York Times best-selling author of Black Death at the Golden Gate, Dreamland, and The King and Queen of Malibu, he lives in Montclair, New Jersey.
David K. Randall on PowellsBooks.Blog
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