by Gail Jarrow
Calkins Creek, 2014
Red Madness
One hundred years ago, a mysterious and alarming illness spread across America’s South, striking tens of thousands of victims. No one knew what caused it or how to treat it. People were left weak, disfigured, insane, and in some cases, dead. Award-winning science and history writer Gail Jarrow tracks this disease, commonly known as pellagra, and highlights how doctors, scientists, and public health officials finally defeated it.
~Goodreads
Original Newspaper Clippings
Click the image above to see some of the original newspaper clippings about Pellagra. Tracing these articles provides proof that you can't believe everything you read in the newspaper. Even though reporters accurately conveyed statements by medical professionals, their reporting is only as accurate as the sources .
Red Madness is the third book in Gail Jarrows Deadly Diseases Trilogy, which also includes Fatal Fever: Tracking Typhoid Mary, and Bubonic Panic: When Plague Invaded America.
Click here to learn more about all three books.
Deadly Diseases Trilogy
Before pellagra was considered a disease, superstition suggested pellagra victims might be vampires.
Pellagra and Vampires
Rob & Jonas' Filmaking Tips. (2009). The Legend of Vampires [Video].
Groves, Griffin. (2016). Book Trailer for Red Madness by: Gail Jarrows [video].