Lunch and Learn: “A White Wind Blew”
Presented by James Markert
November 19, 2019  |  Noon – 1:00 PM

In the first decade of the 20^th century, tuberculosis was the leading cause of death in the United States.  In November’s Lunch & Learn, author James Markert will discuss his novel A White Wind Blew and the infamous Waverly Hills Sanatorium of Louisville. Learn more about how his books are researched and what he learned while writing A White Wind Blew. This event is free, but registration is required below.

Markert lives in the Louisville area and is the author of seven published books including A White Wind Blew. This novel is set in prohibition-era Louisville and overshadowed by the very real daily threat of tuberculosis. Tuberculosis, also known as the white plague, was the leading cause of death in the United States during this time.   An airborne bacterium caused the infection and was so highly contagious sufferers were quarantined away from the general population. In Markert’s novel, Louisville’s Waverly Hills Sanatorium provides the location for his fictionalized novel. Life at Waverly Hills was essentially self-contained and the community had its own zip code, grew its own food, and had a water treatment facility.  Doctors, nurses, and patients alike lived in Waverly Hills isolated from the outside world except for visiting day.  The advent of Streptomycin in 1943 gave doctors a tool that reduced the need for larger hospitals and Waverly Hills closed as a TB sanatorium in 1961.

Lunch and Learn is a free to the public program, however, registration is required.  The program begins at noon and lasts an hour.  Guests are permitted to bring a bag lunch and the Carnegie Center will supply beverages.