Product Description

Beginning in 1866 and continuing for over a century, more than eight thousand people suspected of having leprosy were forcibly exiled to the Hawaiian island of Molokai -- the longest and deadliest instance of medical segregation in American history. Torn from their homes and families, these men, women, and children were loaded into shipboard cattle stalls and abandoned in a lawless place where brutality held sway. Many did not have leprosy, and many who did were not contagious, yet all were ensnared in a shared nightmare.

Here, for the first time, John Tayman reveals the complete history of the Molokai settlement and its unforgettable inhabitants. It's an epic of ruthless manhunts, thrilling escapes, bizarre medical experiments, and tragic, irreversible error. Carefully researched and masterfully told, The Colony is a searing tale of individual bravery and extraordinary survival, and stands as a testament to the power of faith, compassion, and the human spirit.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #55635 in Books
• Published on: 2007-01-09
• Released on: 2007-01-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 1.07" h x 6.64" w x 8.36" l, .85 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 432 pages

From Publishers Weekly
From 1866 through 1969, the Hawaiian and American governments banished nearly 9,000 leprosy sufferers into exile on a peninsula on the Hawaiian island of Molokai. Former Outside editor Tayman crafts a tale of fear, endurance and hope in telling the story of these unfortunate victims of ignorance (leprosy is caused by a simple bacteria and isn't nearly as contagious as was long believed). After a smallpox epidemic wiped out a fifth of the Hawaiian population in the 1850s, leprosy was seen as the next cataclysmic threat, and drastic measures were taken. For more than 100 years, anyone diagnosed with the disease was taken to the remote colony. Initially, conditions were horrible, with few services or proper medical treatment. Pushed to their limit and fueled with potent moonshine, the internees frequently rioted, causing overseers to enforce cruel laws. Later, as science and social thinking evolved, conditions improved and many in the settlement lived lives of near normalcy. Drawing on contemporary sources and eyewitness accounts of the still surviving members of the colony, Tayman has created a fitting monument to the strength and character of the castoffs in particular, and human beings as a whole. B&w photos.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From The New Yorker
Hawaii's isolation from foreign illness slowly disintegrated through the nineteenth century as trading ships arrived bearing the yellow flag of disease. When leprosy cases appeared, panicked local officials designated the island of Molokai, some fifty miles from Honolulu, a "leprosarium," because it was naturally inaccessible, presenting a sea cliff "so sheer that wild goats tumbled from its face." The first twelve lepers were rowed to its rocky shores in January of 1866. Drawing on eight thousand pages of documents, Tayman reconstructs a fascinating history of the settlement, which officially lasted until 1969. Shortages of food, water, and shelter sent some lepers into caves pocketed inside an extinct volcano. Tayman's multilayered account sketches in scientific details, such as the fact that later medical studies proved that most of the exiles weren't even contagious.
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

From Booklist
*Starred Review* Drawing on letters, journals, newspaper articles, medical documents, interviews, and other source material, Tayman has crafted a gripping history of the leper colony at the Hawaiian island Molokai. In the mid-1800s, when fear of leprosy spreading throughout the islands reached a fever pitch, Dr. William Hillebrand suggested the idea of isolating those infected from the rest of society. The colony opened in 1866, and after a stint at a hospital in Honolulu, patients were rounded up and shipped out to Molokai on a regular basis. The beginning years were especially hard, as patients were thrust into the settlement with inadequate supplies and no medical care to speak of. As the colony began to grow, it garnered attention from around the world, and missionaries such as kindhearted Father Damian came to bring religious services to the patients and writers such as Robert Louis Stevenson and Jack London traveled to Molokai to chronicle the plight of the colonists. As Tayman's narrative broaches the second half of the century, the accounts become more personal, culled from interviews with elderly patients who were originally sent to Molokai as children. Tayman's crisp, flowing writing and inclusion of personal stories and details make this an utterly engrossing look at a heartbreaking chapter in Hawaiian history. Kristine Huntley
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