Pox: An American History [Kindle Edition] Author: Michael Willrich | Language: English | ISBN:
B004H4XD8Q | Format: PDF, EPUB
Pox: An American History
Direct download links available Pox: An American History for everyone book with Mediafire Link Download Link The untold story of how America's progressive-era war on smallpox sparked one of the great civil liberties battles of the twentieth century.
At the turn of the last century, a smallpox epidemic swept the United States from coast to coast. In this gripping account, award- winning historian Michael Willrich chronicles the government's fight against the outbreak and the ensuing clash of modern medicine, civil liberties, and state power. Pox introduces readers to memorable characters on both sides of the debate-from the doctors and club- wielding police charged with enforcing the law to vaccinate every citizen to the anti-vaccinationists, who stood up for their individual freedoms but were often dismissed as misguided cranks. Riveting and thoroughly researched, Pox delivers a masterful examination of progressive-era history that resonates powerfully today.
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- File Size: 1696 KB
- Print Length: 436 pages
- Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1594202869
- Publisher: Penguin Books; Reprint edition (March 31, 2011)
- Sold by: Penguin Group (USA) LLC
- Language: English
- ASIN: B004H4XD8Q
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #339,017 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #30 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Professional & Technical > Medical eBooks > Specialties > Preventive Medicine
- #41 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Professional & Technical > Medical eBooks > Specialties > Pathology > Forensic Medicine
- #69 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Professional & Technical > Medical eBooks > Internal Medicine > Infectious Disease > Communicable Diseases
"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.
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