People of the Plague: Philadelphia Flu Epidemic 1918 (Horrors of History Series)

by T. Neill Anderson

Overview

Well-researched and rich with ghastly details, this third historical fiction novel in the Horrors of History series is based on the great influenza epidemic of 1918. Actual and fictionalized victims and survivors, like the young, heroic Barium and the concerned, wise Doctor Wilmer Krusen, help weave together a gripping account of how Philadelphia coped with the outbreak.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781607345428
Publisher:	Charlesbridge
Publication date:	10/14/2014
Series:	Horrors of History Series
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	142
File size:	5 MB
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

T. Neill Anderson is a research fanatic and American-history buff. He is the author of City of the Dead and Ocean of Fire, the first two books in the Horrors of History series. He lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.

Read an Excerpt

The epidemic had spun out of control. The bodies in the little room he’d just left were the lucky ones. The halls he now moved through were thick with the putrid stench of death and lined with bodies that hadn’t even been afforded the dignity of a sheet. Some were ice cold, had given up the ghost days before. Others were merely lukewarm, their lives only recently extinguished. Every single body was the color of a violent bruise—a ghoulish blue-black hue. Alive, these Philadelphians were white, black, or brown—now they were all united. One single race of the dead.

Table of Contents

Prologue
Chapter One: Coughs and Sneezes Spread Diseases
Chapter Two: Spitting Equals Death
Chapter Three: Spasms
Chapter Four: Plague
Chapter Five: "Do You See Angels?"
Chapter Six: To the Dead House
Chapter Seven: Deeply Cyanotic
Chapter Eight: Vermin
Chapter Nine: An Uncanny Population
Chapter Ten: Under the Dogwood Tree
Epilogue
Author’s Note

Editorial Reviews

Anderson tells the tale of Harriet, Harry, and Barium, who live in South Philadelphia during the Spanish influenza pandemic that swept the globe in 1918. The crowded and often filthy tenement houses of urban neighborhoods and emergency hospitals that sprung up around Philadelphia during the height of the epidemic provide the backdrop as the protagonists come to terms with the loss of their parents to the virus. Many of the characters are fictionalized composites of real-life survivors, whereas others, such as Philadelphia physician Wilmer Krusen and mayor Thomas Smith, are real-life portrayals. Charts and maps of historical data share space with the fictional dialogue and plot twists, and period black-and-white photographs of the sick and dying, masked stretcher-bearers, and exhausted gravediggers punctuate the fast-paced narrative, providing an unflinching look at the horrors of the seemingly unstoppable virus. This typifies the historical novel that walks the fine line between fact and fiction.
-Booklist

From the Publisher

2014-07-29
Horror is the dominant feature of this entry in the aptly named Horrors of History series.Illustrated with numerous period photographs, this fictional effort follows many through the lethal 1918 influenza epidemic in Philadelphia, one of the hardest-hit cities in America. The tale moves smoothly among four sets of protagonists: children residing in a tenement; seminary students involved in burying the numerous dead; those providing medical care in a hospital ward where the mortality rate seems to approach 100 percent; and the head of public health for the city. Anderson (City of the Dead, 2013) uses this look at the epidemic from a variety of points of view to significantly increase the body count. Although rich with historic detail, the narrative is even richer with gruesomeness. Beginning to hemorrhage from the disease, a nurse looks back at the ward: "She saw all the doctors and nurses writhing on the floor as dozens of patients begged for help." All, instantly afflicted, simultaneously? At one point, a 3-foot-long worm is dragged from a choking patient's mouth by a gagging nurse. The dead are graphically described, as well: "[H]is body [was] greenish and swollen like a balloon, maggots wriggling under his nostrils and around his eyes." Although it colorfully examines a horrific disease, only devoted horror enthusiasts are likely to savor this story. (nonfiction epilogue, author's note) (Historical fiction. 10-14)

Kirkus Reviews