Book Review of
Black Death at the Golden Gate
On March 6, 1900, the bubonic plague took its first victim on American soil: Chinese immigrant Wong Chut King. Empowered by racist pseudoscience, officials rushed to quarantine Chinatown―but when corrupt politicians mounted a cover-up to obscure the threat, it fell to federal health officer Rupert Blue to save San Francisco, and the nation, from a gruesome fate. Black Death at the Golden Gate is a spine-chilling saga of virulent racism, human folly, and the ultimate triumph of scientific progress.
Lynn's Review
Black Death at the Golden Gate was published in 2019. Before the current events happened. The timing of its release could not have been better, but I don’t think this book got the attention that it deserved.
I am one of those people that read about plagues and pandemics during a pandemic. I am probably one of the few people that want to read a book like this right now. Not very many people want to read a book about the bubonic plague while living through the Covid-19 pandemic.
I picked this book up at a used bookstore back in May when I was visiting family in Oregon. I started reading it this month and could not put it down.
My family is tired of hearing me talk about this book. You might be wondering why I can’t stop talking about it. Well, it is because I felt like it could have easily been written about current times.
Quarantines, travel restrictions, the battle between the medical world and the public, and the battle between the government and individual freedoms. This book was a reminder that very few people know history. Current events are not historic. American has gone through similar times before. Past generations have lived through the same thing. We could learn a lot from them if we would only take the time to study it. Know your history. It is important.