Hives of sickness

An 1865 report on public health in New York painted a grim picture of "high brick blocks and closely-packed houses . . . literally hives of sickness" propagating epidemics of cholera, smallpox, typhoid, typhus, and yellow fever, which swept through the whole city. In this stimulating collection of essays, nine historians of American medicine explore New York's responses to its public health crises from colonial times to the present.

These essays illustrate the relationship between the disease environment of New York and changes in housing, population, social conditions, and the success of medical science, linking such factors to New York's experiences with smallpox, polio, and AIDS. As David Rosner writes in his introduction, "aspects of the current health crises in the city are not unique to this era and . . . , as in the past, a concerted effort to face up to modern epidemics can lead to meaningful and humanitarian responses."