It's 1793, and there's an invisible killer roaming the streets of Philadelphia.  The city's residents are fleeing in fear.  This killer has a name—yellow fever—but everything else about it is a mystery.  Its cause is unknown, and there is no cure.

This powerful, dramatic account by award-winning author Jim Murphy traces the devastating course of the epidemic.  The medical beliefs and practices of the time and the conditions that helped the disease to spread through the city that was then the nation's capital are vividly detailed.  So, too, is the heroic role that free black Philadelphians played in saving their city.  The efforts and intrigues of politicians and doctors—among them George Washington and Benjamin Rush—are also part of the narrative, and the search for the fever's causes and cure provides a suspenseful counterpoint to this riveting true story of a city under siege.

Thoroughly researched and absorbing, An American Plague includes an unflinching discussion of medical details.  It offers a fascinating glimpse into the conditions in American cities at the time of our nation's birth while drawing thought-provoking parallels to modern-day epidemics.

From the dust jacket