Bodily Matters: The Anti-Vaccination Movement in England, 1853–1907 (Radical Perspectives) [Paperback]

Nadja Durbach (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 30, 2004 | Series: Radical Perspectives

Bodily Matters explores the anti-vaccination movement that emerged in England in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth in response to government-mandated smallpox vaccination. By requiring a painful and sometimes dangerous medical procedure for all infants, the Compulsory Vaccination Act set an important precedent for state regulation of bodies. From its inception in 1853 until its demise in 1907, the compulsory smallpox vaccine was fiercely resisted, largely by members of the working class who interpreted it as an infringement of their rights as citizens and a violation of their children’s bodies. Nadja Durbach contends that the anti-vaccination movement is historically significant not only because it was arguably the largest medical resistance campaign ever mounted in Europe but also because it clearly articulated pervasive anxieties regarding the integrity of the body and the role of the modern state.

Analyzing historical documents on both sides of the vaccination debate, Durbach focuses on the key events and rhetorical strategies of the resistance campaign. She shows that those for and against the vaccine had very different ideas about how human bodies worked and how best to safeguard them from disease. Individuals opposed to mandatory vaccination saw their own and their children’s bodies not as potentially contagious and thus dangerous to society but rather as highly vulnerable to contamination and violation. Bodily Matters challenges the notion that resistance to vaccination can best be understood, and thus easily dismissed, as the ravings of an unscientific “lunatic fringe.” It locates the anti-vaccination movement at the very center of broad public debates in Victorian England over medical developments, the politics of class, the extent of government intervention into the private lives of its citizens, and the values of a liberal society.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“All too often the large-scale resistance to compulsory vaccination in England has been treated as a quaint case study in ‘anti-modern’ or ‘irrational’ opposition to scientific progress. Nadja Durbach has made a key contribution to modern British history in particular and to the analysis of class culture more generally by rescuing this resistance to state medicine from what E. P. Thompson memorably termed ‘the enormous condescension of posterity.’”—George Behlmer, author of Friends of the Family: The English Home and Its Guardians, 1850–1940

“This fascinating book uses the anti-vaccination movement to illuminate our understanding of the major themes in nineteenth-century British history: the nature of liberalism, class tensions, and resistance to state intervention. Beautifully written, it brings the movement to life.”—Anna Clark, author of Scandal: The Sexual Politics of the British Constitution

About the Author

Nadja Durbach is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City.

Product Details

• Paperback: 296 pages
• Publisher: Duke University Press Books (December 30, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0822334232
• ISBN-13: 978-0822334231
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,663,362 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars History repeats itself!, December 16, 2009

By 

M. Born "BornForHealth" (Southfield MI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Bodily Matters: The Anti-Vaccination Movement in England, 1853–1907 (Radical Perspectives) (Paperback)

Are we repeating history with forced vaccinations? What are we doing to our children with these viruses placed directly into the blood stream? How does this affect their health in later years and how does this affect our right to choose what is healthy? This book creates amazing paralles with what is happening now and what happened a century ago. This book may create a guideline to defending our freedom of health choice.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books written on history of mandatory vaccination, June 21, 2010

By 

Dr Sherri "tooza2" (Cleveland, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Bodily Matters: The Anti-Vaccination Movement in England, 1853–1907 (Radical Perspectives) (Paperback)

I love this book. I've recommended it in all of my conferences and presentations. Anyone interested in the history of mandatory vaccination, and why vaccination is part of the DNA of the medical profession, should read this very well written and documented book. I used this book as a reference for my book, "Saying No to Vaccines."