| Review: Pox Americana | ||||||||
Elizabeth A. Fenn Hardcover, Published by Hill & Wang, Oct. 2001 ISBN: 0809078201
Think back to your history lessons in school. Are you surprised to learn that there was a terrible smallpox epidemic that ravaged the American colonies and the many Native American nations and tribes in North America? Pox Americana, by historian Elizabeth A. Fenn, is the first book to show how the smallpox virus (Variola) swept across the continent in the years 1775-1782. With impressive research and copious references for support, Fenn reveals the significant role smallpox played in the course of the Revolutionary War. At times widespread illness severely disabled the Continental army, most of whose recruits had never had the disease, compared to the British soldiers who usually had passed through smallpox at a young age and were thus immune. The American colonists' suffering, though intense, was not as great as others living in North America. Sadly, African and African-American slaves died in great numbers from smallpox. Every Native American nation on the continent, from Florida to Alaska, from east to west, lost many people, especially children, to the disease, with some villages being completely wiped out. In addition, the Spanish-speaking Native Americans in the Spanish colonies and Mexico were terribly affected. If the thought of reading a non-fiction book gives you pause, consider this: not only is Fenn a meticulous historian, she knows how to tell a great story, how to take research and make it "come alive" with people and places. Open a new window on those old history lessons, and read Pox Americana.
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