Cholera is a frightening disease. Victims are wracked by stomach cramps and suffer intense diarrhoea. Death can come within hours. Though now seeming a distant memory in Europe, which suffered several epidemics in the 19th century before John Snow identified the link with water, it is still a serious threat in many parts of the world - Zimbabwe is a recent example. Snow's discovery was one of the great breakthroughs of epidemiology and a wonderful story from the history of science. Later came the discovery of the culprit organism - Cholera vibrio - understanding of its life cycle, and the development of a vaccine. But the problem of cholera has not disappeared.

Cholera, Chloroform and the Science of Medicine - A Life of John Snow

Although there is little new here for historians, much of this material will probably be new to epidemiologists, especially the information on Snow’s early years and his remarkably self-disciplined upward mobility. The authors also examine links between Snow’s epidemiologic approaches and his work in respiratory physiology, pathology, and experimental science—a laudable attempt to understand his thinking processes. Still, there are disappointments, such as the distancing of Snow as a person and a “Snow-centric” emphasis on what he alone thought and did, omitting much of the context within which his ideas evolved.

Gabriel Garcias Marquez's Love In The Time Of Cholera (Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations)

One of the Nobel Prize winning author Gabriel Garcia Marquez's triumphs, Love in the Time of Cholera is a masterwork of magical realism. This text contains an introductory essay, critical biography,and chronology of the authors's life.