The Book Prize Index

Necropolis: Disease, Power, and Capitalism in the Cotton Kingdom

Kathryn Olivarius

"In antebellum New Orleans, whites and Blacks died in droves from yellow fever. But the fortunes of survivors were less equal. Kathryn Olivarius explores the resulting framework of "immunocapital." For whites, immunity signaled creditworthiness. For enslaved Blacks, immunity enhanced their exploitability, relegating them to the harshest labor"--

Race & EthnicityRace & Ethnicity · high confidenceRace & Ethnicity81 signalsLlm Classifier: Race & Ethnicity -> Race & EthnicityOpen Library: Race discrimination -> Race & EthnicityOpen Library: Race relations -> Race & EthnicityDisease, Epidemics & DrugsBusiness, Capitalism & CorporationsGrief, Trauma & RecoveryLabor, Work & Organizing

Award History

1 wins · 1 total

AwardYearResultCategory / Notes
PROSE Award for U.S. History2023WinnerOfficial source
View all award history (1)
Experimental book profileGenerated by GPT-5.4 nano · may contain inaccuracies

This is an unverified interpretation of the catalog description, offered as an opt-in discovery experiment—not as bibliographic fact.

  1. 01 Central figures

    None extracted with sufficient confidence.

  2. 02 Central places

    • New Orleans90%

  3. 03 Suggested argument

    In antebellum New Orleans, immunity to yellow fever functioned as “immunocapital,” rewarding whites with creditworthiness while increasing enslaved Blacks’ exploitability and confining them to the harshest labor.

    Model confidence 72%

  4. 04 Reading orientation

    60 / 100 academic

    Trade / academic crossover

    An estimate of intended readership and scholarly apparatus—not quality or importance.

Confidence percentages are the model's own estimates. Profile confidence: 78%.