Typhoid Mary: An Urban Historical

by Anthony Bourdain

Book Overview

The riveting true crime tale from beloved chef and bestselling author Anthony Bourdain, originally published in 2001, centering deadly cook Mary Mallon-otherwise known as the infamous Typhoid Mary.

By the turn of the twentieth century, it seemed that New York had put an end to the outbreaks of typhoid fever that had ravaged the city. That is, until 1904, when the disease broke out in a household on Long Island. Authorities suspected...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1639734694
• ISBN13: 9781639734696
• Release Date: October 2024
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.2" x 7.1"

Customer Reviews

Therapeutically funny!

I contracted typhoid while traveling in Asia (yes, it's still quite prevalent in the world), and this little book lifted my spirits as I recovered. I appreciate Bourdain's personal approach to telling Mallon's story, and I think his book really helps redeem her from what I believe to be an undeserved reputation. A very fun read, maybe not suitable for readers who want lots of scientific data and history. Thank you Bourdain for helping me through that one!

A stew of delicious history!

Typhoid Mary was a cook. That's the lens through which Anthony Bourdain filters his telling of her story. This is a bit longer than an essay & a bit shorter than an actual book, but a fun read. I especially enjoyed the parts where he talked about cooks & cooking & about the Irish women who immigrated to America during the potato famine. Also enjoyed reading about the foodies at the time. I like Anthony Bourdain. He's smart & funny & passionate about food. He writes well, too. I'm positive there are more in-depth academic tomes about Typhoid Mary with oodles of footnotes & citations & 10 or 12 different theoretical perspectives, but this one was just fine.

Highly Recommended

This is a very interesting book. Aside from learning about Mary, you also get a history of New York City.

An energetic account of a willful woman

In this diminutive book (amounting to fewer than 150 pages), the robust Bourdain tells the stormy story of 'Typhoid Mary' Mallon. The author and subject, it becomes clear, are much alike. Both are cooks, iconoclasts, and outsiders. The personalities of the two resonate with one another throughout. For the most part, this is a charitable portrait of a misunderstood woman, but Bourdain also admits that Mary had a misanthropic side. In the later part of her life, knowing she was a carrier of salmonella typhi, she worked as a cook at a hospital for women and children! At the same time, she had been wronged by the system -- treated unfairly because of her gender, her immigrant status, and her station in life. Bourdain successfully gets inside Mary's mind, and those of the bureaucrats who hounded her. His speculations on the inner thoughts of the players in this drama feel accurate. The mystery of Typhoid Mary is energetically brought to life in this wonderful account set in early-1900's New York.

An old story from a new viewpoint

In Typhoid Mary: An Urban Historical, Anthony Bourdain combines his skills and experiences as a chef with his unique writing talents to bring to life an often feared individual. Mary Mallon a.k.a. "Typhoid Mary" was a cook not unlike Bourdain himself, thus he is especially qualified to speak on her behalf. Most other books regarding the subject matter are either epidemiological in nature, treating her as just another case history, or historical in nature, viewing her as just another in a long line of events and placing a vast gulf between the reader and Mary herself. Bourdain comes at it with a biographical bent. There is no science here. The author wants you to feel Mary's pain, her persecution (perceived or otherwise), her frustration with not being able to do the one thing she knew how to do in order to make a living, and Anthony does a wonderful job of it. It is a very quick read, but well worth it.