Polio
Published on 23. September 2009
Book
Hardback
172 pages
978-0-313-35897-5 (ISBN)
Description
A compelling account of the most feared childhood disease of the 20th century and its impact on victims and medical science.
This new title in the Biographies of Disease series offers a thorough examination of medical and scientific efforts to battle polio, from the 19th-century identification of the virus to the great 20th-century epidemics, from the unprecedented campaign to find a vaccine to recent efforts to confront polio in West Africa and South Asia and eliminate it entirely.
Beyond the science, Polio looks at the effects of the disease on individuals and the United States as a whole. The book gives readers a sense of what it was like to have polio and to recover from it. It also describes how the search for answers to polio led to the rise of one of America's premier medical charities-the March of Dimes-and how modern physical therapy practices emerged alongside the polio epidemics of the 20th century.
A chronology of key events in the scientific, medical, and social history of polio
Rarely seen photographs from the archives of the March of Dimes, providing a visual history of treatments for the disease
This new title in the Biographies of Disease series offers a thorough examination of medical and scientific efforts to battle polio, from the 19th-century identification of the virus to the great 20th-century epidemics, from the unprecedented campaign to find a vaccine to recent efforts to confront polio in West Africa and South Asia and eliminate it entirely.
Beyond the science, Polio looks at the effects of the disease on individuals and the United States as a whole. The book gives readers a sense of what it was like to have polio and to recover from it. It also describes how the search for answers to polio led to the rise of one of America's premier medical charities-the March of Dimes-and how modern physical therapy practices emerged alongside the polio epidemics of the 20th century.
A chronology of key events in the scientific, medical, and social history of polio
Rarely seen photographs from the archives of the March of Dimes, providing a visual history of treatments for the disease
Reviews / Votes
"Readers will get a sense of how frightening polio was to the public before vaccines were developed, and learn what it was like to have polio and to recover from it. Wilson's straightforward writing style should give this book wide appeal." - SciTech Book News "Polio provides general and basic information that is useful to students and anyone interested in learning more about this disease." - ARBAonline ". . . compelling reference . . . A vital complement to Wilson's Living with Polio (2007)." - Library Journal "This book is an engaging read, well written and precise in its argumentation. It has drive and is easily read from cover to cover. The style is pragmatic and agreeable. The book comes with some nice extras, such as a glossary of medical terms, timeline, and bibliography. . . . Apart from being an interesting and very agreeable read, this book is certainly more than a traditional medical history. . . . it has something to offer to disability history. In teaching disability history, for example, it could be used as a textbook to get an overall view on polio, and it is commendable how the author moves between the perspectives of experts, institutions, patients, and their families."- H-Disability
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Target group
Professional and scholarly
US School Grade: From Second Grade to Twelfth Grade
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 15 mm
Weight
446 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-313-35897-5 (9780313358975)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Daniel J. Wilson, PhD, is professor of history at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA.