Fire, Pestilence, and Death by Christopher Alan Gordon

I find it both irresistible and indispensable.” ( Matthew Mancini, St. That is only part of the story that Gordon lays our with verve, eyewitness-level observation, and sound scholarly judgment in this, one of the best-and best illustrated-“one year” books I've seen. Louis just when a lethal cholera epidemic was destroying whole families, which was also just when the city was swollen with manic gold seekers who had set out for California. “In 1849 a devastating conflagration raced through St.

“Meticulously researched and engagingly presented” ( Midwest Book Review) 'synopsis' may belong to another edition of this title. The tale that emerges is as impressive as the city it depicts: full of all the drama and excitement of a great narrative and brimming with vivid accounts of momentous events whose causes and effects are still debated today. Louis as it was experienced by people who lived through that incredible year.

This book draws on the incomparable archives of the Missouri Historical Society, including newspaper accounts, letters, diaries, city and county records, and contemporary publications, to reveal the story of 1849 St. The cholera epidemic and Great Fire of 1849 were both a consequence of those problems and-despite the devastation they brought-a chance for the city to escape them. Louis was little more than a frontier town, swelling under the pressure of rapid population growth, creaking under the strain of poor infrastructure, and often trapped within the confines of ignorance and prejudice.

Fire, Pestilence, and Death by Christopher Alan Gordon