Audiobook
$0.00
with membership trial

Hardcover
$12.29

Paperback
$17.24

Learn more

Read for Free

OR

Digital List Price:	$19.99
Kindle Price:	$11.68 Save $8.31 (42%)
Sold by:	Amazon.com Services LLC

Promotions apply when you purchase

Add an

audiobook with Audible narration for $7.49

Audiobook Price: $9.77

Save: $2.28 (23%)

Read with our free app

You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.

Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions

There was an error. We were unable to process your subscription due to an error. Please refresh and try again.

Follow the author

Jim Murphy

+ Follow

More books from this author

An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 (Newbery Honor Book) Kindle Edition

by Jim Murphy (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.4 412 ratings

Part of: Newbery Honor Book (1 books)

See all formats and editions

National Book Award Finalist: An account of the disease that ravaged eighteenth-century Philadelphia, written and illustrated for young readers.

1793, Philadelphia: The nation’s capital and the largest city in North America is devastated by an apparently incurable disease, cause unknown…

This dramatic narrative describes the illness known as yellow fever and the toll it took on the city’s residents, relating the epidemic to the social and political events of the day and eighteenth-century medical beliefs and practices. Drawing on first-hand accounts, Jim Murphy spotlights the heroic role of Philadelphia’s free blacks in combating the disease, and the Constitutional crisis President Washington faced when he was forced to leave the city—and all his papers—to escape the deadly contagion. The search for the fever's causes and cure provides a suspenseful counterpoint to this riveting true story of a city under siege.

Winner of multiple awards, this thoroughly researched book offers a look at the conditions of cities at the time of our nation’s birth, and draws timely parallels to modern-day epidemics.

“A lavishly illustrated book, containing maps, newspaper columns and period illustrations…unflinchingly presents the horrors of the event as well as its heroes.”—The New York Times

“Pair this work with Laurie Halse Anderson’s wonderful novel Fever 1793 and you’ll have students hooked on history.”—School Library Journal

“History, science, politics, and public health come together in this dramatic account of the disastrous yellow fever epidemic that hit the nation’s capital more than 200 years ago.”—Booklist

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 6-10-If surviving the first 20 years of a new nationhood weren't challenge enough, the yellow fever epidemic of 1793, centering in Philadelphia, was a crisis of monumental proportions. Murphy chronicles this frightening time with solid research and a flair for weaving facts into fascinating stories, beginning with the fever's emergence on August 3, when a young French sailor died in Richard Denny's boardinghouse on North Water Street. As church bells rang more and more often, it became horrifyingly clear that the de facto capital was being ravaged by an unknown killer. Largely unsung heroes emerged, most notably the Free African Society, whose members were mistakenly assumed to be immune and volunteered en masse to perform nursing and custodial care for the dying. Black-and-white reproductions of period art, coupled with chapter headings that face full-page copies of newspaper articles of the time, help bring this dreadful episode to life. An afterword explains the yellow fever phenomenon, its causes, and contemporary outbreaks, and source notes are extensive and interesting. Pair this work with Laurie Halse Anderson's wonderful novel Fever 1793 (S & S, 2000) and you'll have students hooked on history.
Mary R. Hofmann, Rivera Middle School, Merced, CA
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 6-12. History, science, politics, and public health come together in this dramatic account of the disastrous yellow fever epidemic that hit the nation's capital more than 200 years ago. Drawing on firsthand accounts, medical and non-medical, Murphy re-creates the fear and panic in the infected city, the social conditions that caused the disease to spread, and the arguments about causes and cures. With archival prints, photos, contemporary newspaper facsimiles that include lists of the dead, and full, chatty source notes, he tells of those who fled and those who stayed--among them, the heroic group of free blacks who nursed the ill and were later vilified for their work. Some readers may skip the daily details of life in eighteenth-century Philadelphia; in fact, the most interesting chapters discuss what is now known of the tiny fever-carrying mosquito and the problems created by over-zealous use of pesticides. The current struggle to contain the SARS epidemic brings the "unshakeable unease" chillingly close. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00NS3UNQC
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Clarion Books; Annotated edition (September 30, 2014)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 30, 2014
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 44946 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 188 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #296,935 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews:
4.4 412 ratings

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Videos

Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video!

Upload your video

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Jim Murphy

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Jim Murphy began his career in children's books as an editor, but managed to escape to become a writer, entering a life of personal and creative happiness and enduring financial uncertainty. He's convinced that the latter keeps him coming back to his computer to write every day and feels that a sense of impending doom is the doorway to creativity. He has never counted the number of books he's published (feeling the time and energy is better spent doing research and writing) but guesses that he has over thirty books to his credit. Jim's work has been honored with numerous awards, including two American Llibrary Association Newbery Honor Book Awards, an ALA Robert F. Sibert Award and Sibert Honor Book Award, three National Council of Teachers of English Orbis Pictus Awards, a Boston Globe/Horn Book Award and a BG/HB Honor Book Award, two SCBWI Golden Kite Awards, and been a finalist for the National Book Award. Recently, he was given the ALA Margaret A. Edwards Award for "his significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature."

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5

412 global ratings

How customer reviews and ratings work

Reviews with images

See all photos

Sort reviews by

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Riyawzidawn

An Excellent Model for Writers of History

Reviewed in the United States on January 21, 2013

Verified Purchase

Sometimes I find it useful to grab a "youth" book if my interest is attracted to a particular topic. While I'd never heard of Jim Murphy, the price was certainly right. However, having finished this book, I am REALLY glad I got it.

Many of the other reviewers have praised his writing style, making history seem more like a tale than a tome. I agree, and will leave that area of praise for others. I see no point in "Me too" redundancy -- or simply let this statement do that. "Yeah, what they said..."

One thing I wanted to address is how Murphy demonstrates good historical work for his young readers. Even in a "youth" book, he shows the importance of using original period material by USING it. In addition to the facts of the plague, the reader gets an idea of HOW TO DO HISTORY by reading this book. Murphy teaches something of the historian's art.

He doesn't include a "biliography" in the most formal sense of the word. He has an excellent list of sources which are described for the young reader. A student could peruse those pages and get a feel for the type of thing a historian looks for in his research ... and why! Teachers should grab this book for use with their students (I taught high school for eight years, myself, and found teaching the methods of research one of the most challenging, yet rewarding, topics I addressed with my students.) This book is an excellent model.

And, yes, I learned something about the 1793 Yellow Fever Epidemic and its effects on Philadelphia (and, owing to the city's status as the US Capital, how it affected much of the country and created Constitutional issues, as a large-scale crisis often can, and how those are resolved.) Now, on to Molly Crosby's book about the plague's effects on Memphis!

11 people found this helpful

Helpful

Danielle E.

Good for history buffs

Reviewed in the United States on June 1, 2018

Verified Purchase

Gift for my history-loving teenage son. Can’t give five stars because he hasn’t read it yet

Reviewed in the United States on September 27, 2023

Verified Purchase

I needed this book for a last minute assignment for a course. It arrived quick and it saved me money as it was cheaper than buying from the school bookstore. The writing is easy to read and the illustrations are great which makes reading about a difficult subject much easier to read and get through.

Helpful

Barb W

Great for adults, too!

Reviewed in the United States on May 17, 2020

Verified Purchase

I never would have ordered this when it was published in 2004, but I found it extremely timely today (May 2020.) Clear and well written, lots of very interesting facts, and a pleasing format. Each chapter is faced with a reproduction of a newspaper page from the time period, so you can read about contemporary ideas and concerns. Lots of pictures of people and places mentioned. Early in the book, there is a comprehensive, but not ghoulish, description of the progress of the disease which may alarm younger children, but it is not belabored. It will give you a lot to discuss with your family and friends.

6 people found this helpful

Helpful

roberta pearson

It was frightening because it described in detail the symptoms of yellow fever and explained how easily it was transmitted

Reviewed in the United States on April 28, 2017

Verified Purchase

This book was quite interesting and spell binding. And frightening! It was frightening because it described in detail the symptoms of yellow fever and explained how easily it was transmitted. However, I did some research on yellow fever and it is not nearly as fatal or as easily spread as the author indicates. The authors indicated the disease has a high death rate but the CDC indicates some people don't even realize they have it!
The book does highlight the need for our country to contain the mosquito population and continue to work on a better protocol for treatment.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

MommaLayne

EXCELLENT.

Reviewed in the United States on June 3, 2020

Verified Purchase

As a teacher, I cannot tell you the number of times I have paired this book with others (specifically "Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson....also HIGHLY recommend) and recommended it to my students. It consistently never fails in its intrigue to them in terms of content and written design. The kids always seem to find it fascinating and what more timely reading experience could be offered than during the current global Pandemic we are experiencing?! I recommend this to the fullest. It is wonderfully written, appealing, and will be certain to fill your/your student's head with factual representations of a fascinating period in our history!

6 people found this helpful

Helpful

Luci

Well done!

Reviewed in the United States on October 16, 2013

Verified Purchase

This will make a great reference book. I can see it as a start to a 5th or 6th grade research paper.

Helpful

Jim

A Piece of Unknown History