The Fever of 1721 Audiobook By Stephen Coss cover art

The Fever of 1721

The Epidemic That Revolutionized Medicine and American Politics

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for $0.00
Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.

The Fever of 1721

By: Stephen Coss
Narrated by: Bob Souer
Try for $0.00

$0.00/mo. after 3 months. Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $15.47

Buy for $15.47

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

In The Fever of 1721, Stephen Coss brings to life an amazing cast of characters in a year that changed the course of history, including Cotton Mather, the great Puritan preacher; Zabdiel Boylston, a doctor whose name is on one of Boston's grand avenues; James and his younger brother Benjamin Franklin; and Elisha Cooke and his protégé Samuel Adams.

During the worst smallpox epidemic in Boston history, Mather convinced Doctor Boylston to try a procedure that he believed would prevent death - by making an incision in the arm of a healthy person and implanting it with smallpox. "Inoculation" led to vaccination, one of the most profound medical discoveries in history.

A political fever also raged. Elisha Cooke was challenging the Crown for control of the colony and finally forced Royal Governor Samuel Shute to flee Massachusetts. Samuel Adams and the Patriots would build on this to resist the British in the run-up to the American Revolution. And bold young printer James Franklin launched America's first independent newspaper and landed in jail. His teenage brother, Benjamin Franklin, however, learned his trade in James's shop and became a father of the Independence movement.

©2016 Stephen Coss (P)2016 Tantor Americas Colonial Period Freedom & Security History & Commentary History & Theory Medicine & Health Care Industry Political Science Politics & Government State & Local United States Scary

Critic reviews

"Coss's focus on a specific location at a specific time fleshes out the complex and exciting scene in sharp detail, creating a historical account that is fascinating, informational, and pleasing to read." ( Library Journal)
Interesting Historical Insights • Well-researched Story • Good Narration • Fascinating Story
Highly rated for:
All stars
Most relevant  
This is an amazing story about a subject that in most cases, one would assume to be the driest possible. Well told and interesting in every detail revealed. Truly an incredible telling of an important and fascinating story.

Amazing thorough, but still accessible.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Excellent historic account of inoculation (vaccine) development in the US entwined with the politics of inoculation and the pre-independence atmosphere of New England in the early 1700's.
This is definitely a book I will read (listen to) again.
Narration was quite good, as it should be for a historic chronology.

Excellent !

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Would you listen to The Fever of 1721 again? Why?

probably not, except to verify details

What did you like best about this story?

The knowledge of what it was like to live and survive in the 18th century.

Any additional comments?

A very thought provoking book about how science and technology have evolved, and what it took for this country to come into existence.

There is so much to know!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
….60 years before the american revolution.

Most of the story centers around political and religious life in Boston, describing the rising tension between the emerging political parties and the British governors. A lot of the petty fighting sounded familiar to todays political fights.
The description of the smallpox epidemic and its treatment through inoculation was interesting, but its role in revolutionizing american publishing and politics was a bit of a stretch.

not just about smallpox, more a picture of boston.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Narrator was good I enjoyed the historical aspects of the book it was interesting to get insights to our country's original leadership & to hear about Benjamin Franklins beginnings and the struggles with disease and survival of said diseases through entry-level discovery of inoculation

Fever of 1721

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I really enjoyed this as it was a part of history I had not been exposed to through normal high school US history classes. Intriguing story and a decent narrator.

Great addition of history

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Loved to learn about the fight of the colonialism to have freedom to express themselves. And to see the seeds of the revolution being formed in Massachusetts.

History Learned.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Perhaps it’s just me but I was under the belief that this was about the smallpox epidemic it’s more a political story pre-revolutionary war with very little attention to the smallpox epidemic and the introduction of vaccination

The title is misleading

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

A history buff

What was most disappointing about Stephen Coss’s story?

I misunderstood what sort of book this was. I thought it was a story not a sleeping aid

Yawn, more like a history book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Simply the story is well researched, the performance good but overall it was listening to a text book, I.e., this listener learned but was not entertained.

Glad that's done

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews