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Article: Carville: Remembering Leprosy in America.(Book Review)
- Article from:
- The Journal of Southern History
- Article date:
- February 1, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Southern Historical Association. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Carville: Remembering Leprosy in America. By Marcia Gaudet. (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, c. 2004. Pp. xvi, 221. $28.00, ISBN 1-57806-693-X.)
Leprosy. The word alone conjures up fear, disbelief, ostracism, condemnation--an emotional firestorm of biblical proportions. The ancient prescriptions of Leviticus 13:45-46 required the leper to "cover his upper lip and cry, 'Unclean, unclean.' He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease; he is unclean; he shall dwell alone in a habitation outside the camp" (RSV). From 1894 to 1999, "outside the camp" for Americans was Carville, Louisiana, location of the only in-patient facility for treating ...