Winner of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for history
David M. Oshinsky is Professor of History at New York University and Director of the Division of Medical Humanities at the NYU School of Medicine. A leading historian of modern American politics and society, he is the author of A Conspiracy So Immense: The World of Joe McCarthy and "Worse Than Slavery": Parchman Farm and the Ordeal of Jim Crow Justice, both of which won major prizes and were New York Times Notable Books.
"A rich and illuminating analysis.... The story of polio captures
all the drama of high-profile and high-stakes research in an
America in social flux: the tension between sober scientists and
sensationalistic media; experimental disagreements grounded more in
envy and ego than in technical details and data; contested credit
for breakthroughs between those who labor at the laboratory bench
and those who work at the patient's bedside."--Jerome Groopman,
The
New York Times Book Review
"Narrative history doesn't get much better.... Oshinsky illuminates
Salk's competitors...and after Salk's triumph, he turns to Albert
Sabin, whose live-virus vaccine became officially preferred before
mass immunization with Salk's was finished. He confirms...that
Sabin was a real SOB as well as a good scientist, but...airs
trenchant criticism of Salk, too. Further, he brings the story down
to the recent reemergence of Salk's vaccine and the present, when
the
WHO hopes for polio's ultimate eradication in 2008."--Booklist
(starred review)
"Teases out the broader context of polio as a historian
should."--Financial Times
"An easily approachable yet factually rich narrative.... Oshinsky
provides a very readable and enlightening history that also can be
appreciated as good storytelling."--Science
"Excellent.... Oshinsky does a good job of recounting famous tales
from the war on polio.... The book also unearths some of the
fascinating forgotten stories."--The Economist
"Readable, often exciting, filled with ambitious characters, it is
science writing at its most engrossing.... Oshinsky brings to
compelling life the work and conflicts among these researchers and
their killed-versus-live-virus approaches..... 'Polio: An American
Story' is definitive, an accessible and memorable account of the
great American gift for, occasionally, pulling together across
generations, races and economic divisions."--Floyd Skloot,
Newsday
"Oshinsky vividly retells one of the greatest of all American
success stories and reveals the clash of egos and interests,
science and salesmanship that made it possible. Its fresh details
will fascinate both those too young to remember polio's scourge and
those of us who experienced it firsthand."--Geoffrey C. Ward,
author of A First-Class Temperament: The Emergence of Franklin
Roosevelt
"As we live through modern-day epidemics like AIDS and SARS, David
Oshinsky's compelling Polio reminds us that the struggle is over
more than a disease. In this riveting story of America's battle
with polio, we learn that government, philanthropy, media, 'big
science,' and public fear were all powerful factors to be reckoned
with as well. If polio no longer plagues America, its legacy
shadows us still. Be prepared for an infectious
read."--Lizabeth
Cohen, author of A Consumers' Republic: The Politics of Mass
Consumption in Postwar America
"The fight against polio was a landmark in medicine, and anyone
interested in American history or epidemiology would enjoy reading
this account."--Science News
"Polio: An American Story is a comprehensive and succinct detailing
of a disease that caused public panic and a national mobilization
of all arenas to research and find a solution to this
menace...[This book] serves as a blueprint for confronting future
public health challenges and a reminder of the success that can be
achieved when all efforts are mobilized to work toward a solution
from a problem affecting a nation's population."--Nursing
History
Review
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