Tells the story of 6 epidemics that broke out during the two great waves of immigration to the U.S. -- from 1880 through 1924, & from 1965 to the present -- & shows how Fed. legislation closed the gates to newcomers for almost 41 years out of fear that these new people would alter the social, political, & economic face of the nation. Markel writes about tuberculosis today, our most serious public health threat; bubonic plague & how it came to this country; trachoma in the years before WW1; typhus fever & an epidemic on the Texas-Mexico border in the aftermath of Pancho Villa¿s revolution; cholera; & AIDS, the Haitian exodus, & the early years of the AIDS epidemic. Looks at the many issues related to immigration & infectious diseases in the 21st cent. Photos.