Hi all! Ok that was a really bad pun and I apologize for it but I couldn't help myself...
In studying history I feel like their is very few times where I am completely shocked by something I had never heard of before but Judith Walzer Leavitt's "Typhoid Mary" does just that in her vivid description of the solitary life of Irish immigrant Mary Mallon. Although I had previously been aware of immigrants being quarantined or turned away I guess I had never thought about what that could have truly meant. I agree with Joseph's previous post about the chapter on the "Extraordinary and Even Arbitrary Powers" of the New York State Health Department.
Secondly to the questions "Was it the fact that she was a single working-woman, Catholic, Irish-born, or was it something that does not take such a complex lens to understand?" I think my answer, although open to interpretation was the fact the she was all of those things allowed the health department to quarantine her also factoring in the fact that she didn't really believe she was that much of a health risk. Often when discussing important topics (arguing) with my wife although one argument like the one Leavitt is trying to make seems to be a little bit of a stretch, often upon further investigation it seems to slowly turn into more of an impossible coincidence. That's not too say that she was or wasn't 100% of a victim, just that it no doubt had something to do with it and the difference between a stretch of the imagination and a lot of coincidences are small is a matter of opinion and perspective. I hope that makes sense...
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