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Typhoid Mary: An Urban Historical Hardcover – May 4, 2001

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From the best-selling author of Kitchen Confidential comes this true, thrilling tale of pursuit through the kitchens of New York City at the turn of the century.
By the late nineteenth century, it seemed that New York City had put an end to the outbreaks of typhoid fever that had so frequently decimated the city's population. That is until 1904, when the disease broke out in a household in Oyster Bay, Long Island. Authorities suspected the family cook, Mary Mallon, of being a carrier. But before she could be tested, the woman, soon to be known as Typhoid Mary, had disappeared. Over the course of the next three years, Mary worked at several residences, spreading her pestilence as she went. In 1907, she was traced to a home on Park Avenue, and taken into custody. Institutionalized at Riverside Hospital for three years, she was released only when she promised never to work as a cook again. She promptly disappeared.
For the next five years Mary worked in homes and institutions in and around New York, often under assumed names. In February 1915, a devastating outbreak of typhoid at the Sloane Hospital for Women was traced to her. She was finally apprehended and reinstitutionalized at Riverside Hospital, where she would remain for the rest of her life.
Typhoid Mary is the story of her infamous life. Anthony Bourdain reveals the seedier side of the early 1900s, and writes with his renowned panache about life in the kitchen, uncovering the horrifying conditions that allowed the deadly spread of typhoid over a decade. Typhoid Mary is a true feast for history lovers and Bourdain lovers alike.
- Print length160 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherBloomsbury USA
- Publication dateMay 4, 2001
- Dimensions5.5 x 0.71 x 7.3 inches
- ISBN-101582341338
- ISBN-13978-1582341330
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Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
“Investing a tragic tale with a new twist, Bourdain plays historical detective, providing an entertaining and suspenseful evocation of turn-of-the-century New York.” ―Booklist
“[Bourdain] presents Mallon's story as a tale of hot pursuit, with the rude gusto and barbed wit that made Kitchen Confidential such a full-bodied pleasure.” ―Adam Shatz, The New York Times Book Review
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Bloomsbury USA; 1st edition (May 4, 2001)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 160 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1582341338
- ISBN-13 : 978-1582341330
- Item Weight : 8.6 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.5 x 0.71 x 7.3 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #159,879 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #635 in Medical Diseases (Books)
- #755 in United States Biographies
- #3,337 in United States History (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Chef, author, and raconteur Anthony Bourdain is best known for traveling the globe on his TV show Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown. Somewhat notoriously, he has established himself as a professional gadfly, bête noir, advocate, social critic, and pork enthusiast, recognized for his caustic sense of humor worldwide. He is as unsparing of those things he hates, as he is evangelical about his passions.
Bourdain is the author of the New York Times bestselling Kitchen Confidential and Medium Raw; A Cook’s Tour; the collection The Nasty Bits; the novels Bone in the Throat and Gone Bamboo; the biography Typhoid Mary: An Urban Historical; two graphic novels, Get Jiro! and Get Jiro!: Blood and Sushi and his latest New York Times bestselling cookbook Appetites. He has written for The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Times of London, Bon Appetit, Gourmet, Vanity Fair, Lucky Peach and many other publications. In 2013, Bourdain launched his own publishing line with Ecco, Anthony Bourdain Books, an imprint of HarperCollins. He is the host of the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning docuseries Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown on CNN, and before that hosted Emmy award-winning No Reservations and The Layover on Travel Channel, and The Taste on ABC.
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You will not be disappointed.
Bourdain manages to take a look at Mary as a woman who lost everything through both chance and her own making. The book provides a wealth of context that doesn't allow Mary to be a blameless victim or a heartless monster. She's simply a person, who thanks to a disease she couldn't treat, lost her trade. Her life. Her ability to function in the world.
Did she have typhoid? Yes. She caused deaths. Intentionally, or knowingly, or not makes little difference.
Could she simply have washed her hands better and avoided detection? Also yes. But she was also a product of her time. Others did the same- or worse.
Mary Mallon was a walking disease vector. She was also a woman that moved to America to escape poverty and managed to make her way, only to have it snatched away from her.
The book does not excuse the harm she caused, nor the harm inflicted upon her by her captors. Necessary as her captivity may have been, she was treated horribly many times along the way.
If any of us were told that we were not allowed to do the one thing we could to improve our lives, wouldn't we be angry? Would we try to run?
Add to that the fact many people see their job as a part of their identity. What are you, when part of your sense of self is shorn away while you are still physically able to embody the identity you built?
Mulling all that, I am left with an amount of sympathy for Mary I did not expect.
Some of my buy in is admittedly based on my love of Bourdain's work. I have admired the man for many years. Much of this book is hypothesis, conjecture, and reconstruction.
Even knowing all that, I cannot shake the feeling that as much of a public threat Mary was, she deserved the little kindness given to her and then some.
Such is the power of storytelling.
Read it. This slapshod summary does not give this visceral book justice.
Marry was a cook and a quite good one at that. She worked in fine homes for the newly wealthy families. She was also Irish, driven from her homeland by hunger in search of a better life. She was a hard worker and to be accused of infecting others was an affront to her pride. She was not sick!
Bourdain explains what it means to be a cook and that some viewed others: customers, employers, the public with suspicion. So it was no small wonder that Mary resented all attempts to protect her and the public. She promised not to cook, but it was all she knew. She continued to cook and people continued to fall ill in her wake. Finally, the health department prevailed and hospitalized her for 23 years.
Was this legal? In 1909, yes, now, I don't know. Typhoid is not a big problem in the U.S. in 2018.
The story is engaging for the most part. The author's personal observations are entertaining and lively, however, a few of these side trips digress and detract. That said, I did come away educated not only about the life and circumstances of "Typhoid" Mary Mallon, but also about the times in which she lived.
A brisk read, I recommend reading this at times of the day, or night, distant from meals, especially if you're dining out at unfamiliar establishments. As I read this account, I had in my mind a three star rating. Upon completing it, and in retrospect, I had learned a great deal of fascinating information and genuinely felt that I had gained something from the experience. Increasing one's knowledge is a worthy exercise and Mr. Bourdain's offering indeed accomplishes this.
Well worth the short time it will take you to read.
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