 | |
| Author | Steven Berlin Johnson |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Riverhead |
Publication date | October 19, 2006 |
| ISBN | 1594489254 |
The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic – and How it Changed Science, Cities and the Modern World is a book bySteven Berlin Johnson in which he describes the most intense outbreak ofcholera inVictorianLondon and centers onJohn Snow andHenry Whitehead.[1]
It was released on 19 October 2006 through Riverhead.
The work covers the1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak. The two central figures are physicianJohn Snow, who created a map of the cholera cases, and the ReverendHenry Whitehead, whose extensive knowledge of the local community helped determine the initial cause of the outbreak. John Snow was a revered anesthetist who carried out epidemiological work in Soho, London. Around the mid-1850s Snow figured out the source of cholera contamination to be the drinking water from the Broad Street pump.
The New York Times reviewedThe Ghost Map, stating that there was "a great story here".[2] A review posted in theInternational Journal of Epidemiology was largely favorable, stating that "the single weakness of this book is a bewildering final section which attempts to apply John Snow's work to a long list of contemporary problems. But for the reader prepared to put the book down at page 217, Steven Johnson has written a comprehensive, diversely sourced and insightful blockbuster account of a cholera outbreak in Victorian London."[3]