Judith Walzer Leavitt has proven herself to be a tour-de-force in the world of study of women's health throughout US history. This is one of the many books she has edited and contributed to, but I find it to be one of her best. Each article is a jewel offering a glimpse into a world not often revealed - women experiencing the changing attitudes of a society that often did not offer them the choices they deserved. From social childbirth in the colonial era to the twilight sleep of the 20th century, Leavitt has managed to collect articles that tell a story in the best historical tradition.

I have to say that this is one of the best books that I've ever read. Once you start reading the healthiest city, you won't wanna put it down. I enjoy the fact that the author talked about the problems Milwaukee was facing and how the city officials were able to solve those problems. The problems ranged from garbage, smallpox, milk and many others. This book can truly enlighten one's knowledge. I truly recommend it.

Leavitt is wonderful historian and although the majority of her early work centered on women's health throughout US history, in "Sickness and Health in America" she once again proves her ability to ferret out wonderful historians who write well and on pertinent issues. Encompassing classic works like the work on the Tuskagee Syphilis experiment and early work on attitudes toward persons living with HIV/AIDS, Leavitt should be applauded once again for her tireless efforts toward public health history.

I've been a big fan of Leavitt's work for years and find this book to be extremely revelatory in the way "things always stay the same". From eating disorders among women in the 1920s to views of women's sexuality and mental illness by male doctors, Leavitt manages (as always) to form a collection of compelling articles that you simply cannot put down. Sensitive always to inclusion of race and sexual orientation, Leavitt often presents work in areas difficult to find elsewhere.

Less a history of Mary Mallon herself than of how the U.S. reacted to typhoid, Typhoid Mary makes for an interesting look into turn-of-the-century understandings of epidemiology and public health.

Leavitt does a nice job of telling the story of how Mary was identified as a vector for typhoid and of how she was treated by the state of New York. However, the book is laced with lots of analysis and attempts to draw connections between the way typhoid was treated/viewed in the late 1800s and early 1900s and with how AIDS has been treated/viewed in the late 1900s. These connections are valid and interesting, but the manner in which they are scattered throughout the text become a bit distracting. This said, Typhoid Mary remains enlightening and interesting reading.

Typhoid Mary: Captive to the Public's Health by Judith Walzer Leavitt could be shorter. Not much shorter, just a bit shorter. The beginning of the book is surprisingly dull and a great deal of information is repeated unnecessarily.

That said, Typhoid Mary is very well-written, even the dull bits. The research is well-documented and complete. And the subject matter is more than a little engrossing. Who was the woman behind the label "Typhoid Mary"?

Leavitt is making the link between typhoid and AIDS, in particular the problem of finding the balance between protecting individual rights and protecting the community. She spends time on this subject towards the end of the book and has some compassionate and reasonable things to say. The strongest part of the book, however, is in the history and in Leavitt's appreciation of Mary Mallon as an individual. The most interesting parts of the book (and where the writing picks up considerably) are the chapters on the public perception of Typhoid Mary throughout the 20th century.

Recommendation: Buy it if it's a subject that already interests you. Otherwise, check it out of the library.

Leavitt's book, Typhoid Mary, attempts to reconstruct the life and times of Mary Mallon, the first identified typhoid carrier in the United States. Mary Mallon was an Irish immigrant, and worked as a cook among the elite families of New York city. She is also the centerpiece of one of the scientific advances of the twentieth century: the understanding that some illnesses are caused by germs, rather than vague miasmas, and that apparently healthy individuals can spread these germs to others. An understanding of this scientific truth, however, raises an even more puzzling question: how can the public address these individuals who, through no bad acts on their part, are able to risk the public's health? Leavitt analyzes Mary's story with the use of seven different perspectives: that of medicine, public policy, the law, social expectations, newspaper accounts, her own, and the story's modern retelling. These seven accounts combine to provide the reader a full account of the medical and social conditions of the day, and how they combined to account for Mary's lifelong isolation. The research on this book is well-done and the writing interesting. My biggest complaint was that some of the material is repetitive, as the different perspectives do overlap at times.