True Story Book Club: The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic—and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World by Steven Johnson
The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic—and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the
Modern World by Steven Johnson (299 pages)
The Ghost Map is a riveting page-turner about a real-life historical hero, Dr. John Snow. It's the summer of 1854, and
London is just emerging as one of the first modern cities in the world. But lacking the infrastructure—garbage removal,
clean water, sewers—necessary to support its rapidly expanding population, the city has become the perfect breeding
ground for a terrifying disease no one knows how to cure. As the cholera outbreak takes hold, a physician and a local
curate are spurred to action—and ultimately solve the most pressing medical riddle of their time. In a triumph of
multidisciplinary thinking, Johnson illuminates the intertwined histories and inter-connectedness of the spread of disease,
contagion theory, the rise of cities, and the nature of scientific inquiry, offering both a riveting history and a powerful
explanation of how it has shaped the world we live in.
