In November 1736, Francis Franklin—Benjamin Franklin’s beloved 4-year-old son—fell ill with smallpox and soon died. Philadelphia at the time was in the midst of an epidemic, and the Franklins’ painful ordeal was one of an estimated 100,000 similar tragedies that played out in 18th-century America. In “The Contagion of Liberty,” Andrew Wehrman weaves together dozens of individual stories and their layered historical contexts to provide a fascinating account of smallpox in America, from colonial times through the early republic. Smallpox was one of the 18th century’s most feared diseases, affecting cities around the world and ravaging early American urban centers in recurring waves. The disease, highly contagious before and after the onset of visible signs of infection, was also deadly.

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