![]() ![]() The city’s leaders, even its health department, fought the news of the plague’s arrival more aggressively than the disease itself, despite the deaths of dozens of victims. “If the folks at Homeland Security read one book this year, let it be Marilyn Chase’s The Barbary Plague, for the way it captures in precise detail how political and business imperatives can impede the battle against a deadly epidemic, in this case the bubonic plague-the fabled Black Death-in old San Francisco. “Chase, with her elegant, subtle writing, brings alive the human victims, particularly the often-tragic lives of Chinese laborers trying to make a life for themselves.” “An involving medical detective story.richly atmospheric consistently enthralling.” A pleasure to read, full of people, dramatic situations, individual foibles and collective hard work.The story, 100 years old, has much to teach us about today.” ![]()
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