Steven Johnson's The Ghost Map
Steven Johnson’s The Ghost Map is a detailed description of the cholera epidemic in 1864, but the more interesting part of the book is how Dr. John Snow and Rev. Henry Whitehead’s different ideas merge to solve the mystery of the source of the illness. Although as Johnson makes clear in the early pages of his novel, it is not really a mystery when you consider the sanitation issues they were facing in mid-nineteenth century London. Johnson describes how two men from different fields with different ideas came together to map out the cholera crisis. In The Ghost Map, Steven Johnson uses two men’s maps to show the connection of urban society, the genesis of an epidemic, and the events leading up to the discovery of the source of cholera . In this novel, Johnson shows how there was not a single hero in
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Though this true story has an anticlimactic ending, Johnson’s writing makes it a very fulfilling ending. The way he begins the novel by describing vividly the terrible hygiene and living conditions of that day makes the ending appropriate. Though it may seem as though he is building to the cure of cholera, he is actually building to the cure of an even bigger problem. The urgency of the cholera outbreak is almost a distraction to the bigger meaning of this novel. Snow and Whitehead may not have realized at the time what their map was helping London accomplish. Johnson points out in this novel that Snow and Whitehead’s research was actually part of a bigger plan. Their research sparked a movement to change the hygiene in London. Without this spark, London most likely would have experienced hundreds of other outbreaks. Johnson showed in this novel that through combined brain power and hard work, man can discover incredible solutions to the problems he
Though this true story has an anticlimactic ending, Johnson’s writing makes it a very fulfilling ending. The way he begins the novel by describing vividly the terrible hygiene and living conditions of that day makes the ending appropriate. Though it may seem as though he is building to the cure of cholera, he is actually building to the cure of an even bigger problem. The urgency of the cholera outbreak is almost a distraction to the bigger meaning of this novel. Snow and Whitehead may not have realized at the time what their map was helping London accomplish. Johnson points out in this novel that Snow and Whitehead’s research was actually part of a bigger plan. Their research sparked a movement to change the hygiene in London. Without this spark, London most likely would have experienced hundreds of other outbreaks. Johnson showed in this novel that through combined brain power and hard work, man can discover incredible solutions to the problems he