Typhoid-Fever Books

'Typhoid Mary' has become a catchphrase for disease, pestilence, and death. Most people have heard the nickname, but few know the particulars. Judith Walzer Leavitt takes a dreaded and legendary figure in the history of public health protection, and, in a factual but entertaining style, gives us the who, what, where, when, and why. In so doing, the author also examines the age-old dilemma of individual liberty vs public safety.

Typhoid Mary was an Irish immigrant cook named Mary Mallon, who spent decades as a prisoner / guest of the New York Public Health Department. As a healthy carrier, she did not exhibit typhoid symptoms herself, but the disease was transmitted via the food she prepared. Her refusal to seek a different livelihood, and aggressive deameanor toward health officials, resulted in her confinement on North Brother Island, a quarantine location, where she died in 1938.

"Typhoid Mary: Captive to the Public Health" is not just a work of medical history or biography of a feisty woman who fought the system and lost. Mary Mallon, as a healthy carrier of a deadly disease, has her modern equal in the millions of people who are HIV positive or suffer from drug-resistant tuberculosis. Leavitt raises uncomfortable questions about quarantine practices and examines how past treatment of the afflicted has been based on gender and socio-economic status. Statistics and sociological arguments have a strong presence in each chapter, but they don't detract from the book's appeal to the lay reader.

"Typhoid Mary" is an uneasy reminder that history doesn't always repeat itself- sometimes it never goes away in the first place.

I found this book very interesting and the multiple aspects of the story are perfectly analyzed by the author. Is a good example of the social implications of a infectious disease and has strong relations with the present AIDS era we are living in. A lot of very important lessons can be learned to understand the present times. Very recomendable.

Leavitt thoroughly explores Mary Mallon's story from a number of angles - social, historical, medical, etc. and the relevance of what we can learn from her situation to modern day issues. The subject was fascinating, but the book tended to be dry and redundant in places. If you are looking to understand the issues at hand, this is for you. If you're just interested in the story of Typhoid Mary, I would recommend a slightly lighter version.

Typhoid Mary: Captive to the Public's Health by Judith Walzer Leavitt could be shorter. Not much shorter, just a bit shorter. The beginning of the book is surprisingly dull and a great deal of information is repeated unnecessarily.

That said, Typhoid Mary is very well-written, even the dull bits. The research is well-documented and complete. And the subject matter is more than a little engrossing. Who was the woman behind the label "Typhoid Mary"?

Leavitt is making the link between typhoid and AIDS, in particular the problem of finding the balance between protecting individual rights and protecting the community. She spends time on this subject towards the end of the book and has some compassionate and reasonable things to say. The strongest part of the book, however, is in the history and in Leavitt's appreciation of Mary Mallon as an individual. The most interesting parts of the book (and where the writing picks up considerably) are the chapters on the public perception of Typhoid Mary throughout the 20th century.

Recommendation: Buy it if it's a subject that already interests you. Otherwise, check it out of the library.

There is a significant error in the review by Publisher's Weekly. They refer to the microbe as the "typhus bacillus."
It should be the "typhoid bacillus." Typhoid and typhus are two entirely different diseases caused by different microorganisms.

This is a very interesting book. Aside from learning about Mary, you also get a history of New York City.

Anthony Bourdain provides a good, solid story, written in his fluid, irreverent prose. Too bad he says he'll not revisit this genre (non-fiction, historical), because he makes history fun to read. He puts Typhoid Mary in an historical and culinary context, as only he can do.

It just goes to show what someone with some desire to learn and a talent for writing can do. Tony Bourdain proves it yet again with his interesting and well-researched look at Typhoid Mary. Who knew she was a cook? I bet most people think she was a prostitute (I did). Bravo to Tony for having the ingenuity and the humility to do some top notch historical research here and produce a useful work of historical scholarship.

I really like Anthony Bourdain's writing style. It's conversational and unpretentious. This is a great book if you don't know the story of Typhoid Mary; however, if you are already familiar with it and are looking for something in depth with lots of details, this might not be perfect.

I'm looking forward to reading more from Bourdain.

An entertaining urban historical of the infamous Typhoid Mary Mallon - the Irish cook with pestilence coursing through her ... um... bum. This one is a bit different because it's written by a chef who looks at Mary's life from the perspective of what it must have been like for a hard-working immigrant cook at the turn of the century, and he throws in a lot of details regarding the lack of cleanliness of the time which makes it a bit more understandable why Mary didn't tend to wash her hands after relieving herself, and thus prevent the spread of Typhoid Fever. Bourdain is decidedly sympathetic of Mary, when it's pretty obvious that Mary had a whole lot to do with bringing her misfortune upon herself... which makes you wonder: if Bourdain were offered some of Mary's trademark peach ice cream, would he have eaten it?

Please note the "ages 9-12" reading level information. I wasted $26 on this book. It's a children's book about typhoid, which seems about as bizarre as it comes. I think what really threw me off were the words "leather bound," which made me assume, along with the sophisticated description, that this was a medical-level text. It's not leather bound, by the way. Just a typical cardboard cover.