Bring Out Your Dead: The Great Plague of Yellow Fever in Philadelphia in 1793

By J. H. Powell, Kenneth R. Foster, Mary F. Jenkins and Anna Coxe Toogood

In 1793 a disastrous plague of yellow fever paralyzed Philadelphia, killing thousands of residents and bringing the nation's capital city to a standstill. In this psychological portrait of a city in terror, J. H. Powell presents a penetrating study of human nature revealing itself. Bring Out Your Dead is an absorbing account, form the original sources, of an infamous tragedy that left its mark on all it touched.

• Language: English
• Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
• Release date: Jun 10, 2014
• ISBN: 9780812291179

Reviews for Bring Out Your Dead

[jwhenderson_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book goes beyond history to provide an account of individual heroism and nobility. The primary hero is Dr. Benjamin Rush, who led the fight against the plague of yellow fever in Philadelphia of 1793. The book is both well-written and well-researched, filled with details about the plague and its effect on all aspects of life in Philadelphia starting in the summer of 1793. The chronicle of death at times seems overwhelming, but the courage of those physicians and others who fought against it are what made it a remarkable story for me.