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Infectious diseases killed Victorian children at alarming rates — their novels highlight the fragility of public health today

  • Written by Andrea Kaston Tange, Professor of English, Macalester College
imageThomas Worth's 1872 illustration for the Household Edition of _The Old Curiosity Shop_ highlights her grandfather's grief at losing Little Nell. Thomas Worth via George P. Landow/Victorian Web

Modern medicine has enabled citizens of wealthy, industrialized nations to forget that children once routinely died in shocking numbers. Teaching...

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