To Spoil the Sun

A classic about the devastation of smallpox is back in hardcover after many years

"''You cannot imagine what it [smallpox] is like. It falls on everyone and soon there is no one who can stand. It is like a fire that sweeps through the town, an invisible fire. People begin to fall with fever, and blisters rise on their skin and turn to running sores, and there is no way to give them comfort.''

I reel...