enjoyed it-like Microbe hunters section on Yellow fever, but fleshed out a bit more ( )

A lot of history I didn't know - it's always nice to learn something new. Well researched and well written, it did slow down considerably in the latter parts as it devolved into a detailed biography of Walter Reed. But still a wonderful book. ( )

Amazingly interesting. So many medical details that helped explain a lot to me about how viruses and vaccines work and the history of how all of that comes to be during an epidemic. It also made me realize how nasty living before modern conveniences was and how anyone made it through and humans still exist is incredible. Molly is a wonderfully thorough storyteller. ( )

A very weak book. The author is not a scientist nor a historian and it shows. She has pieced together information from articles, books, and her own assumptions, to tell a story -- with assumed dialogue, character emotions and descriptions of the weather and places. At times, she writes of the virus like she really believes it is strategically motivated and targets the scientists trying to eradicate it. It's really too bad, because she obviously did a great deal of research but then stretched her interpretation and sources beyond credibility

Her use of language is frustratingly imprecise, starting with the title. Let me break that into two parts. First, there is nothing in the story that is "untold". It's all been told before. The book is structured as a retelling. Second, "the Epidemic that Shaped our History", with that in the title you would expect some discussion in the book of how yellow fever "shaped our history", but there is none. The book is a series of vignettes about how the virus was experienced, then about how a group of doctors showed it was transmitted by mosquitos. The focus is on the experiences of individuals, and not on the impact the virus had on history. So that was annoying.

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Like so many things in medical and scientific history, there are many false paths, posturing (by people claiming knowledge or work they didn't have). Thus, like so many other medical and scientific advances, it took 20 years from when a researcher first presented the mosquito as the vector (he was ridiculed) to when it was accepted and action taken to protect people. Meanwhile, a lot of medical personnel died working on the problem.

"In July 1878 the city of Memphis posted a population of 47,000. By September 19,000 remained and 17,000 of them had yellow fever." (Page 47)

"Modern day epidemic psychologist have described a total collapse of conventional order – fear pervades, the sick go uncared-for, people are persecuted and moral controversies arise." (Page 53)

"In the 1870s, hospitals were notorious for spreading disease more often than curing it. People even opted to have surgery performed at home, rather than risk infection in an operating room." (Page 59)

"Physicians reported seeing as many as 100 to 150 patients daily. Their treatments ranged from the practical to the truly bizarre, they all were remarkably similar in there ineffectiveness." (Page 60)

I was astonished at the breadth of resources the author researched in creating this book. ( )