Exposing a historical surprise

At first glance, the plot of “The Pox and the Covenant’’ (Sourcebooks) sounds lifted from alternative-history fan fiction. In the midst of a raging 1721 smallpox epidemic, Puritan minister Cotton Mather extols the healing powers of inoculation over fierce objections from the Boston medical community, all while Benjamin and James Franklin’s publications run inflammatory articles and cartoons mocking the very ... (Full article: 583 words)

This article is available in our archives:

Globe Subscribers

FREE for subscribers

Subscribers to the Boston Globe get unlimited access to our archives.

Not a subscriber?

Non-Subscribers

Purchase an electronic copy of the full article. Learn More

• $4.95 1 article
• $9.95 4 articles
• $25.95 Monthly