History Book Talk: Marshall Foletta "Purge and Bleed: Philadelphia’s Yellow Fever Epidemic and the Stagnation of American Medicine"
Monday, April 27, 2026
5 pm to 6:30 pm
Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center (MIKC), Wells Fargo Auditorium - 124
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About this event
The 1793 yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia was a shock to the system of American medicine—or it should have been. In the decades that followed the most infamous health crisis of the early republic, American doctors by and large failed to move beyond ancient ideas of disease and treatment. This talk will explore the themes in Marshall Foletta’s recently published book Purge and Bleed: Philadelphia’s Yellow Fever Epidemic and the Stagnation of American Medicine (University of Virginia Press, 2025). Foletta explains the deadly stasis of American medicine in the long nineteenth century.
Additional information
- Attendance type: In person
- Cost: Free
- Event type: Lectures & Seminars