Infectious Fear

“A major contribution to the historical study of disease in the United States. . . . Meticulously researched, critically acute, and displays an impressive grasp of the clinical aspect of TB, both present and historical.” — Doody’s Review Service

“A solid contribution to research on health disparities, a field that needs to do much more to acknowledge that such disparities have deep historical roots that require excavation.” — American Historical Review

“Will appeal . . . to highly specialized researchers interested in public health politics.” — CHOICE

“A meticulously researched, densely written survey of the bleak landscape inhabited by black Americans with tuberculosis (TB) during the Jim Crow era. . . . An insightful and sorrowful view of an important subject.” — The Journal of American History

“Pushes us to reimagine the history of segregation and health, and through this evocative work Roberts has provided a template for scholars and health advocates to think more deeply about these connections. . . . Will appeal to a broad readership interested in how the history of segregation can illuminate discussions of public health and health care. Historians of medicine, urban historians, historically minded urban planners, medical sociologists, and epidemiologists will find Infectious Fear invaluable for their work.” — Journal of Southern History

“A fascinating history. . . . Robert’s well-researched monograph provides a solid contribution to research on health disparities. . . . Tells an important story.” — Journal of American Studies

“Will quickly become a standard work in public health and African American urban and public health history. . . . [Roberts'] exhaustive research and analysis, and strong narrative skills, ensure that Infectious Fear will gain the diverse and appreciative audience it so richly deserves.” — Journal of African American History

“An impressive work that presents a rich picture of the interaction of some of the factors shaping Baltimore in the early twentieth century.” — Louisiana History

“A powerful, thoughtful, and incisive work that constitutes a major historiographical intervention, Infectious Fear is a skillful accounting of the racialized politics of public health.” — Michele Mitchell, author of Righteous Propagation: African Americans and the Politics of Racial Destiny after Reconstruction

“This deeply researched book lays bare the irrefutable causal connection between Jim Crow–mandated racial residential segregation and high death rates from tuberculosis among African Americans in the so-called New South of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Infectious Fear raises the bar for scholarship in historical epidemiology.” — Sherman A. James, Duke University