An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793

          An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793, by Jim Murphy is fascinating read about the Yellow Fever  Epidemic in Philadelphia, which was then the nation's capital, at the end the eighteenth century. This book is one of my favorite types of history books; it is the type of history book that tells the historical event from multiple perspectives and how it affected life throughout the city on multiple levels. It also tells about the events that are going on outside of the fever epidemic, and how the epidemic affects those events. For example, it shows the effect the epidemic had on a new nation, when the president had to flee the capital to avoid sickness. Additionally, it looks at how the fever affected people from multiple classes of life. The book also follows Benjamin Rush, a notable doctor, scientist, and thinker of the era, as he tried to do all he could to stop the epidemic.
         Something that I especially liked about the book was that it talked about the role of free blacks during the epidemic. During the epidemic, Rush convinced free blacks who had survived the disease as children in Africa, to nurse ill whites, some of who even brought their slaves with them to the hospital. Despite indignities they had faced previously in the city, and the certain indignities that would follow after the epidemic, free blacks put much effort into nursing the sick folk of the city.This is just one of the fascinating aspects described in this book.
        The book is wonderfully written, and organized. Although the reading level is a bit high for many elementary students, I would definitely have this book in a fifth grade or sixth grade library. This would be a great book, to add a little something extra to any lessons about America as a new nation.  One cool thing to do with this might be to have kids pick an event from the book, and write an article about it for a pretend newspaper.
       This book is a Newbery Honor book and has won many other awards, such as being a National Book Award Finalist.