Pox: An American History (Penguin History of American Life) Paperback – March 27, 2012 Author: Visit Amazon's Michael Willrich Page | Language: English | ISBN:
0143120786 | Format: PDF, EPUB
Pox: An American History – March 27, 2012 You can download Pox: An American History (Penguin History of American Life) Paperback – March 27, 2012 from with Mediafire Link Download Link
From Publishers Weekly
Today's controversies over vaccinations pale beside the pitched battles fought at the turn of the 20th century, to judge by this probing work. Historian Willrich (City of Courts) revisits the smallpox epidemic that ravaged the United States from 1898 to 1904 and sparked a showdown between the burgeoning Progressive-era regulatory regime and Americans fearful of the new Leviathan state and the specter of "state medicine." Anxious to stamp out the contagion, public health officials in the South quarantined African-Americans in detention camps if they were suspected of carrying the disease and vaccinated others at gunpoint; in New York "paramilitary vaccination squads" raided immigrant tenements, forcibly inoculating residents and dragging infected children off to pesthouses; their coercive methods sparked occasional riots and lawsuits that helped remake constitutional law. Willrich sees merit on both sides: draconian public health measures saved thousands of lives, but resisters did have legitimate concerns about vaccine safety and side effects, racial targeting and bodily integrity. He does tend to romanticize anti-vaccine activists, whose movement he associates with feminism, free speech, and abolitionism, styling them as "libertarian radicals" engaging in "intimate acts of civil disobedience." Still, his lucid, well-written, empathetic study of a fascinating episode shows why the vaccine issue still pricks the American conscience. Photos. (Apr. 4)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
About the Author
Michael Willrich is the award-winning author of City of Courts. He is an associate professor of history at Brandeis University and a former journalist who wrote for The Washington Monthly, City Paper, The New Republic, and other magazines. He lives in Wellesley, Massachusetts.
Download latest books on mediafire and other links compilation Pox: An American History (Penguin History of American Life) Paperback – March 27, 2012
- Series: Penguin History of American Life
- Paperback: 432 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Books; Reprint edition (March 27, 2012)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0143120786
- ISBN-13: 978-0143120780
- Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 1 inches
- Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #379,867 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #63 in Books > Medical Books > Medicine > Preventive Medicine
"Pox: An American History" by Michael Willrich is a non-fiction book which traces how the smallpox vaccine was distributed during major outbreaks. Some of the vaccines were forced onto people which caused an outrage and the question made it all the way to the Supreme Court.
The book clearly suggests that an overlooked legacy of American dissent was the antivaccinationists. An increasingly powerful government took on the progressive position that the benefit of all people outweighs the problems of the few and started mandatory vaccination campaigns.
An interesting and informative part of American history.
To my great surprise, "Pox: An American History" by Michael Willrich is an extremely readable and fast paced book. What I mean by "readable" is that the book does not simply recite facts, figures, laws, high level agenda etc.
Yes, it does that as well but by telling stories of individuals on both sides of the debate, such as C.P. Wertenbaker, a federal surgeon who worked tirelessly to combat the deadly and preventable disease. On the other side there is Swedish Lutheran minister Henning Jacobson who took his battle to the Supreme Court battling against vaccination.
Those stories, big and small, in context with the overall picture are what make the book a joy to read.
Mr. Willrich goes beyond just reciting facts and figures; he also frames the debate around vaccinations. At a time when people believed that vaccinations are some sort of a vast government conspiracy (in a way it was), a cabal of the feds with the drug manufacturers - sounds familiar?
The questions which were debated and to some extent still are to this day.
What rights can or should the federal government ignore in order to protect us?
The generations that had had smallpox vaccination scars upon their arms are dying off. That scar might have served as something like a passport to get them into a new country, or it might have allowed them to enter school. The scars aren't seen now because inoculation with smallpox vaccine is no longer necessary; humanity may be rightly proud that it has eliminated what once had been a deadly scourge. The battle was not easily won, and in the United States, it was fought not just against the virus, but against those who for often understandable reasons felt that it was not the government's business to stick germs into them. It was the epidemic of 1898 to 1903 that defined the government's role, and this is the subject of _Pox: An American History_ (The Penguin Press) by professor of history Michael Willrich. There is plenty of medical history here, as doctors and civic health care officers confront a fearful plague, but more importantly, there are accounts of the thousands of Americans who were against vaccination and the effect their efforts had upon the laws and attitudes that still affect us. Willrich's detailed and meticulous history confines itself to the events of more than a hundred years ago (although a short epilogue catches us up to the current times) and is valuable for the insight it gives on the necessity and the limitations of governmental and police power instituted for the general medical betterment of society, issues which we are still arguing about today.
Community vaccination programs were slapdash and poorly targeted, so sometimes the feds were called in to help. The Marine-Hospital Service would dispatch doctors to afflicted towns to vaccinate those who didn't have the pox and to quarantine the sick.
Pox: An American History – March 27, 2012 Download
Please Wait...