Epidemics in the Modern World

Krieg explores the outbreak of five American smallpox, cholera, yellow fever, TB, and AIDS. While reactions to each were different, Krieg shows that American Romanticism, the notion that “it couldn’t happen to us”, was prevalent in each of society’s reactions to these epidemics. American Romanticism limited the swiftness to which the government, as well as the people, reacted to the outbreak of epidemics. Government often did not acknowledge the outbreak of an epidemic in America because it would blemish the image of the “city upon a hill”. Even if they did acknowledge an epidemic, the government often quarantined ports to limit the influx of what was surely a foreign disease. Krieg adeptly gives historical perspective to each of the epidemics, and shows the human turmoil each created. Krieg also enlightens the reader to debates over the causes of the epidemics, and how different Americans responded to the epidmeics. To further elucidate the prevalence of American Romanticis