The Ghost Map : A Street, A City, An Epidemic and the Hidden Power of Urban Networks

Written by Steven Johnson
Review by Ann Oughton

THE GHOST MAP: A Street, A City, An Epidemic and the Hidden Power of Urban

In 1854 a cholera epidemic broke out in London’s Soho district. Until that time the popular belief was that such infections were the result of miasma or bad air. Dr John Snow discovered that it was a waterborne infection. No great surprise in an age when there was little or no sanitation and drinking water was frequently contaminated by raw sewage.

This is an in depth account of social history as well as an historical account of the beginnings of epidemiology.