2014 Shaping the Future of New York Fridays: 11:00-1:45 Boylan Hall, 2231

The first chapters of Ghost Map were vital to my understanding of cholera and the epidemics that so tragically plagued Europe. I was not surprised, however, that many people were succumbing to the miasma theory concerning the beginnings of the disease. Citizens saw the disgusting ways in which the city was spread out and smelling. They attributed the recent sicknesses to the sewage and heavily population/smell of decay and feces. However, many physicians and theorists were staring at the wrong problem and approaching it with the wrong ideas of how to fix it. This is often the case for our modern society, also, however. We may have the tools to fix a certain, large scale problem, yet are very misdirected in our efforts. The Ghost Map shows how the power of a few determined people can bring about justice and understanding to a cloudy minded society of dying and cholera infected London.