<DIV><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; background: white">One hundred years ago, an epidemic spread across the American South, striking down young and old, men and women, black and white. The disease left its victims weak, disfigured, insane, and—in the worst cases—dead. No one knew its cause or how to treat it as it forged a path of terror through communities and families. <i>Red Madness </i>tells the story of how doctors, public health officials, and scientists finally defeated pellagra, “one of the most horrible, pitiful afflictions mankind has ever suffered.” The book includes stories about real pellagra victims based on early twentieth-century medical reports and newspaper articles; accounts of scientific investigations; sidebars on cotton mills, sharecroppers and tenant farmers, vitamins, the U.S. Public Health Service; more than 100 photographs, maps, and posters; a glossary; a timeline; recommended books and websites; an author’s note; source notes; a bibliography, and an index.</p></div>