The Most Fatal Plague in American History
The Fever: The Most Fatal Plague in American History
Book debut: August 27, 2024
In the summer of 1855, the nation cast its eyes on the working-class port of Norfolk and Portsmouth, Virginia. A ship named the Benjamin Franklin had steamed in from the West Indies harbor of St. Thomas—where yellow fever had hopped from ship to ship that winter—and tied up at a dock for repairs.
The ship unleashed the seeds of an epidemic on an unsuspecting population, and it didn’t take long for the first victims of yellow fever to fall. In the 100 days from late June 1855 until the first frost quelled the mosquito population, residents of the two cities confronted an unknown and unseen airborne stalker that killed one of every three people. The Fever is the never-before-told story of the deadliest epidemic in American history. It’s the story of a summer when the only things that mattered were life and death.
What People Are Saying
“Brisk, vivid, and all too relatable, Lon Wagner’s The Fever transports modern pandemic survivors into the bed chambers, clinics, and graveyards of a thriving American port laid low by pestilence--and reflects on just how much and how little we’ve learned in the 170 years since.”
— Earl Swift, author of Hell Put to Shame
“In The Fever, Lon Wagner tells the awful story of an 1855 yellow fever epidemic in Tidewater, Virginia, one of the most catastrophic events in American history. This book is an important reminder of the ability of epidemic and pandemic threats to destabilize a society and threaten its security."
— Dr. Peter Hotez, Baylor College of Medicine, Dean, National School of Tropical Medicine
“Fans of Geraldine Brooks’s “Year of Wonders” and Hampton Sides’s “In the Kingdom of Ice” will find much to admire in the voices of ordinary people who took on so many challenges in the face of grave danger and almost-certain death. A riveting, meticulously researched account.”
— Beth Macy, author of Dopesick
“Richly reported and eloquently written, this true story transports readers back to 1855, into a raging pandemic that feels eerily prescient. The Fever is a tragic, triumphant tale of desperate people struggling to make sense of a deadly epidemic – and save themselves.”
-Lane DeGregory, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in feature writing
During a 20-plus-year journalism career, Lon’s editors twice nominated his stories for the Pulitzer Prize.
He gravitates toward stories whose characters are real, with human flaws and struggles, the kind of people one might run into in your town or city any day of the week. Life, tragedy, triumph, heartbreak, and joy play out within the souls of regular folks.
Upcoming author readings
8.29.24
Norfolk, Virginia
Prince Books
6 p.m.
9.15.24
Norfolk County Historical Society
Chesapeake Central Library
2 p.m.
2.12.25
Norfolk Historical Society
MacArthur Memorial Visitor Center Theatre
7 p.m.
09.21.24
Roanoke, Virginia
Book No Further
1 p.m.