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Penguin Random House
Death in Hamburg - Society and Politics in the Cholera Years
Death in Hamburg - Society and Politics in the Cholera Years
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"A tremendous book, the biography of a city which charts the multifarious pathways from bacilli to burgomaster." -Roy Porter, London Review of Books
Why were nearly 10,000 people killed in six weeks in Hamburg, while most of Europe was left almost unscathed? As Richard J. Evans explains, it was largely because the town was a âfree cityâ within Germany that was governed by the âEnglishâ ideals of laissez-faire. The absence of an effective public-health policy combined with ill-founded medical theories and the miserable living conditions of the poor to create a scene ripe for tragedy. The story of the âcholera yearsâ is, in Richard Evansâs hands, tragically revealing of the ageâs social inequalities and governmental pitilessness and incompetence; it also offers disquieting parallels with the worldâs public-health landscape today, including the current coronavirus crisis.
Why were nearly 10,000 people killed in six weeks in Hamburg, while most of Europe was left almost unscathed? As Richard J. Evans explains, it was largely because the town was a âfree cityâ within Germany that was governed by the âEnglishâ ideals of laissez-faire. The absence of an effective public-health policy combined with ill-founded medical theories and the miserable living conditions of the poor to create a scene ripe for tragedy. The story of the âcholera yearsâ is, in Richard Evansâs hands, tragically revealing of the ageâs social inequalities and governmental pitilessness and incompetence; it also offers disquieting parallels with the worldâs public-health landscape today, including the current coronavirus crisis.
