Typhoid Mary: Captive to the Public’s Health by Judith Walzer

REVIEWED BY JENNIE SONDAKH
In the book, Typhoid Mary: Captive to the Public‘s Health, it talks about the story of this women name Mary Mallon. The author, Judith Walzer Leavitt, uses this book to raise alarm during the time of AIDS. She also use this story of Mary Mallon, also known as Typhoid Mary to reveal to the audience of the prejudice against women and immigrants in the early-twentieth century. Typhoid Mary combines interesting research, commentary, illustrations, in order to make one of the most remarkable stories in the history of American public health.
Most of the book is a biography of Mary Mallon’s life. Mary was just a teenage when she came to American as an Irish immigrant and she lived in the city of New York. She worked as a servant cook for most of her life. During the 1900’s there was an epidemic of Typhoid fever-- a very deadly sickness, as well as many other various diseases. The reader needs to understand that at this time period there was no knowledge of bacteria and many work places where unsanitary. There was a detective hired to investigate this dilemma. There had been accusations that Mary Mallon was the carrier, but whenever the detective would ask to run test she refused. This was simply because she felt health and did not show any symptoms (little did the people know that it was possible for a person to be a carrier of a disease yet not show symptoms). The detective finally had to get a warrant from the court and she was finally apprehended. To protect the public's health, authorities isolated her on Manhattan's North Brother Island, where she died some thirty years later.
Because of Mallon’s story, she became well known as Typhoid Mary. This meaning of Typhoid Mary soon later changed. Now it is simply a general meaning of a person who is sick or ill. The author addressing that fact of why she was so prominent in the health issues of typhoid. Many people at the time had typhoid, but because she had been in the lower social hierarchy, she had been picked on. There were many men who had typhoid fever, but was never taken out and put into isolation. Leavitt states how it is sad how one lady has to hold up such a burden of being know as the Typhoid Mary. Besides the general issue of Mary’s story, it presents main issues of the time period.
This story presented three main issues: identification, isolation, and blame. In identifying a person, held great power. The author explains, “The power to identify is intimately linked to the power to control.” This is because when a person is labeled a certain way, it carriers powerful social meaning and can radically alter the world of the individual. In relation to the story, Mary Mallon was very aware of the fact that she was ranked low in the social hierarchy which makes her more susceptible to being label. Mary Mallon, being a women and an immigrant, worked very much as a disadvantage to her. In Mallon’s story, the reader will also see the right’s of an individual being abused. Mallon was forced into isolation for the need of the public-- isolation being one of the major issues. Mary felt that the public health official discriminated against her and this made her resistance to the public health authority stronger. The author addressing whether is would be right or wrong and makes her point that this is not civil to do this. The author then brings up the fact of who’s to blame. Whether it be Mallon of the health officials, all where at fault. The author believes that if people treated her with more respect she would have been more cooperative. Leavitt also includes other various stories of people who had the same experience. She describes they lives as a “broken spirit”. Many people were forced out of the only work they knew how to do. Health officials at the time remained negligent of the humanity side of people.
Leavitt tells this remarkable story of Mary Mallon and within it makes connections between the social class and Mallon’s situations. This book is a book that presents a world of strict class divisions and prejudice against immigrants and women. Leavitt uses the excitement of early day microbiology to engage the readers and brings to life the conflicting perspectives of public health officials, the law, and Mary Mallon herself. A lot of the topics that the author talks about haunts us and very much relates to the dilemmas now, such as AIDS. Her discussions on to what degree we are willing to sacrifice individual liberty to protect the public's health is interesting. This book is great for anyone who is concerned about the threats posed by new epidemics. "Typhoid Mary" is a vivid reminder of the human side of disease and disease control.