Naples in the Time of Cholera, 1884–1911

This is a medical and social history of Italy's largest city during the cholera epidemics of 1884 and 1910-11. It explores the factors that exposed Naples to risk; it examines such popular responses as social hysteria, riots, and religiosity; and it traces therapeutic strategies. This book is the first extended study of cholera in modern Italy; it sets Naples in a comparative international framework and relates the disease to larger historical issues, such as the nature of liberal statecraft, the "southern question," mass emigration, organized crime, and the medical profession. Read more