Marilyn Chase talked about her book The Barbary Plague: The Black Death in Victorian San Francisco, published by Random House. She told the story of an outbreak of bubonic plague in San Francisco during the first decade of the twentieth century, reviewing the history and reading selections from the book. She also talked about the lessons that can be applied to the recent Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome outbreak. Following her talk, Ms. Chase took questions from members of the audience.