The Ghost Map: The Story of London’s Most Terrifying Epidemic–and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World by Steven Johnson

So I took a break from wacky family PI fiction, and stepped into cholera-ridden Victorian London for a week. And let me tell you, this was one hell of a read. Johnson presents the Broad Street cholera epidemic of 1854 in all it’s horrible glory–how it started, who it affected (everyone), how it spread, the men who treated victims, the men who researched and argued its origins, and finally, how it changed just about everything about life at the time.

Johnson focuses on two main historical characters: Reverend Henry Whitehead and Dr. John Snow. His research is meticulous, and every single thing is cited. The prevailing disease theory at the time was miasma, the idea that dirty or smelly air spread disease. Whitehead and Snow, who worked simultaneously, proved that it was spread by water. This was particularly difficult, since the Broad Street pump that was spreading the disease was actually hailed as being the cleanest, healthiest water in the area.

How could so many intelligent people be so grievously wrong for such an extended period of time? How could they ignore so much overwhelming evidence that contradicted their most basic theories? These questions, too, deserve their own discipline: the sociology of error.” 

The book is very well-written (not dry at all), and full of fascinating information. I read the following aloud to my husband because I thought it was so interesting: “Over generations, the gene pool of the first farmers became increasingly dominated by individuals who could drink beer on a regular basis. Most of the world’s population today is made up of descendants of those early beer drinkers, and we have largely inherited their genetic tolerance for alcohol.” 

I actually took a class on Victoria London in college, but we never delved so deeply into city and class structure as Johnson did. I would highly recommend this to medical buffs and history buffs alike (and if those two fields interest you equally, as they do me, then pick this up now!)