An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 is a 2003 nonfiction adolescent history by author Jim Murphy published by Clarion Books.

It portrays the agony and pain this disease brought upon the American people marking its place in history in order to never be forgotten.

Mayor Matthew Clarkson: The only government leader who stayed to deal with the issues that were going on in Philadelphia when the plague was taking place.

"[3]"Leisurely, lyrical tone...Murphy injects the events with immediacy...archival photographs...bring the story to life...comprehensive history."

[4] Murphy spotlights the heroic role of Philadelphia's free blacks in combating the disease, and the Constitutional crisis that President Washington faced when he was forced to leave the city — and all his papers — while escaping the deadly contagion.