Kathryn Olivarius

One of the best nonfiction reads in a while. Olivarius synthesizes a century's worth of New Orleans newspapers, periodicals, and books to paint a picture of life in the city amidst "yellow jack," the deadly yellow fever that levelled populations and created a whole stratified society based on acclimation.

I had no idea about this deeply held and once understood slice of history in the American South, and Olivarius charts it with an even (if sometimes leading, but undeniably strong) tone. We as the readers are meant to connect these epidemics to the area's Covid measures, and any time I wanted to roll my eyes, the author had a thorough array of sources to back her claims up.

I don't know how widely read this will be by non-lefty people, especially in the South, with phrases like "imunocapitalism" and digs at laissez-faire economies, but the material here is incredibly important and undeniably worth digesting. It reminded me of [book:They Were Her Property: White Women as Slave Owners in the American South|40887375], another earth-shattering look at the realities of slavery and race in the country that simply cannot be denied. Both books were difficult to get through at times though: we're reading the words of some of the worst racists in American history, and even me, with a strong stomach, was emotionally exhausted by the end of it.… (mehr)