Contagion, Isolation, and Biopolitics in Victorian London

"Contagion, Isolation, and Biopolitics in Victorian London" is a comprehensive study of the extensive networks of fever and smallpox hospitals established by the Metropolitan Asylums Board in London between 1870 and 1900. This book illuminates the development of a new technology of disease prevention through isolation and analyzes how Londoners suffering from infectious diseases underwent extensive forms of surveillance, removal, and incarceration. These measures led to a fundamental shift in the perception of urban epidemics and created complex new relationships between health, citizenship, and the spaces of modern governance. By utilizing rich archival sources and images, the book offers an innovative analysis at the intersection of preventive medicine and the liberalism of the Victorian era.