Description: A timely book about history's first desperate efforts to conquer smallpox, "The Speckled Monster" tells the dramatic story of two parents who dared to fight back. After barely surviving the agony of smallpox themselves, they flouted 18th-century medicine by borrowing folk knowledge from African slaves and Eastern women in frantic bids to protect their children.
Review Quotes: "Highly engrossing...Carrell tells the gripping story with ardor and skill." --Smithsonian
"Written in a compelling, almost novelistic voice, Carrelldetails two eighteenth-century figures who struggled valiantly against smallpox. The disease becomes a character in the book, claiming the poor, the rich, and the royal without distinction." --USA Today