Readers > Everybody Reads > 2010 > About The Ghost Map
About The Ghost Map
The Ghost Map is a thrilling historical account of the worst cholera outbreak in Victorian London and a brilliant exploration of how Dr. John Snow's solution revolutionized the way we think about disease, cities, science and the modern world.
Just as London is emerging as a modern city in the summer of 1854, a devastating cholera outbreak pushes the limits of its infrastructure. When the people in his neighborhood begin dying, Dr. John Snow — whose ideas about contagion have been dismissed by the scientific community — risks his own life to prove how the epidemic is being spread.
By creating the map that traces the pattern of outbreak back to its source, Dr. Snow doesn’t just solve the most pressing medical riddle of his time, but also establishes a precedent for the way modern city-dwellers, city planners, physicians, and public officials think about the spread of disease and the development of the modern urban environment.
