Naples in the Time of Cholera, 1884–1911

This 1995 book is a medical and social history of Italy's largest city during the cholera edipemics of 1884 and 1910–11.

Frank M. Snowden (Author)

9780521893862, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 18 July 2002

496 pages, 6 maps
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.8 cm, 0.72 kg

"Snowden's book is an indispensible guide to the 19th- and early 20th-century Italian history. It is also a model of historical analysis which deserves emulation." Peter L. Brown, Urban History Review

This 1995 book is a medical and social history of Italy's largest city during the cholera epidemics of 1884 and 1910–11. It explores the factors that exposed Naples to risk; it examines such popular responses as social hysteria, riots and religiosity; and it traces therapeutic strategies. Cholera also became a metaphor for discontent with the regime: the 1884 outbreak was a national issue which led to the rebuilding of the city amidst widespread corruption. The book sets Naples in a comparative international framework; the disease is also related to larger historical issues, such as the nature of liberal statecraft, the 'Southern Question', mass emigration, organised crime, urban renewal, and the medical profession.

Preface
Introduction
Part I. Sanitary Anxieties: 1. A city at risk
Part II. The Public Epidemic of 1884: 2. From Provence to the Bay of Naples
3. Death in Naples
4. Survival and recovery
Part III. Risanamento and Miasma: 5. Rebuilding medicine and politics
Part IV. The Secret Epidemic of 1910–11: 6. The return of cholera: 1910
7. Concealment and crisis: 1911
Conclusion: Neapolitan cholera and Italian politics
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900 [HBLL], European history [HBJD]