With archival photographs and text among other primary sources, provides a biography of Mary Mallon that goes beyond the typhoid scandal of her controversial life, and explores issues such as her treatment by medical and legal officials, human and constitutional rights, and the science of pathology. Discusses her later years, and her death in 1938.

In which Mrs. Warren has a servant problem -- In which the Warrens get more than their just "desserts" -- In which the usual suspects are questioned -- In which an epidemic fighter hunts for a clue -- In which the cook rules the kitchen -- In which Mary walks more like a man than a woman -- In which extraordinary and arbitrary powers are at work -- In which Mary fights like a caged lion -- In which Mary's bad behavior leads to her doom -- In which there's some name-calling -- In which Mary is banished like a leper -- In which Mary has her day in court -- In which Mary learns to keep her germs to herself -- In which it takes a squad of sanitary police -- In which a weaker spirit might have been broken -- Afterword, in which we consider the writing of Mary's life.