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.The book is the first extended study of cholera in modern Italy, and it sets Naples in a comparative international framework. The disease is also related to larger historical issues, such as the nature of liberal statecraft, the 'southern question', mass emigration, organised crime, and the medical profession.