In the Shadow of Polio: A Personal and Social History [Paperback]

Kathryn Black (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 16, 1997

In 1954 Kathryn Black’s mother became one of the millions of people worldwide stricken with polio. A year later, as the Salk vaccine became widely available, the nation heaved a collective sigh of relief, and promptly buried its memories along with its dead.In the Shadow of Polio offers a penetrating look at this intense and significant period in American history. Black explores the lethal progression of her mother’s illness and its devastating emotional impact upon her family, interweaving her story with chapters that broaden into the social and historical context of the epidemic that randomly swept the nation in the 1940s and 1950s. Rich with anecdotes from Black’s years of interviews and correspondence, In the Shadow of Polio is a journey into the homes and hospitals, the lives and memories of the people who lived through this period in our common past.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A memoir of her mother's horrifying descent into an iron lung--and into the grave two years later--this powerful, heart-wrenching book is also a well-researched and vivid account of the onset of the polio epidemics of the turn of the century and the conquering of the disease in the 1950s. Virginia Black, the author's mother, contracted both bulbar and spinal polio just weeks after the first American children had been inoculated with Jonas Salk's controversial vaccine. Virginia Black did not survive, but her daughter, six years old when her mother died, grew up to write an important first-hand account of this frightening crippler. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

In 1954, when journalist Black was a four-year-old living in Phoenix, her mother, Virginia, was diagnosed with bulbospinal polio and became completely paralyzed within two days. In gripping prose, Black poignantly traces the two-year course of Virginia's illness, which ended with her death at 30. After being encased in an iron lung for months, she adapted to a rocking bed and respirator and was sent home to Boulder, Colo., to be cared for by her own mother and by her husband, Del, who coped by drinking heavily and absenting himself from his family. Black intersperses research about the polio epidemic that swept the U.S. from 1942 to 1953 throughout her memoir. She vividly describes the desperate search for the cause of the disease and for ways to treat it, as well as provides accounts of families devastated by it. After Virginia's death, Black's father left (they have only recently resumed contact), and she and her brother were raised by her grandparents, who never discussed Virginia or her illness. Photos.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 330 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (May 16, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201154900
• ISBN-13: 978-0201154900
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,567,689 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brought back many memories. It paralleled my childhood, August 1, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: In the Shadow of Polio: A Personal and Social History (Hardcover)

I was eleven when my mother contacted both bulbar and spinal polio in July of 1954. She lived for seventeen years. She was confined to a rocking bed and a chest respirator. She eventually died at home while confined to an iron lung. My brother age 12 and Sister age 8 also contacted very mild forms of polio. My father and I did not show any symptoms of the disease. For the first month of her hospitalization we (children) lived with my father parents on a farm. When school started we were brought home and were under the care of a housekeeper and neighbors. My father traveled to Ann Arbor almost every day to be with her. Unlike Kathryn's father, our father never abandoned us children; nor did he ever give up on our mother. As a summery comment I would have to say that he truly lived up to his marriage vows. Although we were older when out mother contacted the disease, out lives pretty much paralleled that of Kathryn and her brother. Out mother spent almost two years! in the "Polio Ward, 9th floor" of the University of Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor. I don't remember exactly when she came home to stay, but she did get home on some weekends. I remember that she was allowed to come home for Christmas 1954. It was for the day and she had quite a contingent of caregivers and equipment. When she did finally come home to stay, we were encouraged to lay down with her in the rocking bed. Boys being boys, my brother and I didn't do that to often, but my sister was a regular rocker. We did assist a lot with her care and physical therapy. We spent many weekends visiting and making friends with polio victims; I often wonder what ever became of them. Some I know to be deceased. (I corresponded with one young lady while I did my tour of service in Germany. I saw her once after I got out). I often accompanied my father when he took my mother on outings. His station wagon was outfitted with a porta-lift on the roof (plus he had a portable porta-l! ift on casters) for getting her in and out of the car and i! nto a wheel chair. The station wagon was also equipped to carry her on a stretcher. On vivid memory I have is that of my father always having to drive around to find a spot with at least two parking spaces so we would have room to unload her. She usually traveled in the front passenger seat. This of course was in the days before there were handicapped parking. To this day it annoys me greatly to see some one illegally parked in a handicapped parking place. I remember that my mother had the best of care at Ann Arbor and she had a "favorite" nurse. Her name was Doris Courtier; she very often would come home with my mother on weekends to take care of her. After my mother left the hospital for good, they continued to correspond and Doris came on weekends to visit quite frequently. She was almost like a sister to my mother and an aunt to us children. My father continued to work his normal schedule and take care of my mother evenings and through the night. He almost always! prepared the evening meals and the weekend meals. We helped where we could. With his demanding schedule her (they) always felt that it was necessary for him to take us children for a vacation every summer. This afforded him a break and gave him that one chance each year to spend some time with his children. I was the first child to leave the nest, having gone into the army in 1960. My brother followed a year later joining the air force. He married while in the air force, so never returned home to live. My sister married in 1963, so she naturally moved out with her husband. I returned home from the army in September of 1963, having been in Germany for 2 and a half years. There was a period of over 6 months that it was just my mother, father and housekeeper\caregiver who were at home. After returning home I lived with my parents for a period of time and eventually moved to Detroit to go to school. After school I returned to our hometown, married and a year later mov! ed to Buffalo NY. My brother was now living in Southern In! diana and my sister was living in Western Michigan. All during this time, we children would try to make at least one or two weekend visits a month. My mother was able to sit up in a wheel chair and loved to play cards, so that is how we spent our evenings on our weekend visits. She was able to suspend her arms in slings and had a special holder for the cards. She had just enough of a grasp in her fingers to hold the cards and pull them from the holder to "sling" them onto the table when it was her turn to play. She did need to have someone initially place them into the holder. Now looking back, as we were growing up I guess there was a lot of things that we didn't have that other children our age had, but not having them, I guess we didn't really miss them. All in all I feel that our parents did exceptional well in providing for us children. I also feel that my father was truly a saint throughout his married life to our mother. With limited time and income he was able t! o maintain a comfortable home (added on to and remodeled to accommodate her equipment), always food on the table and provide for her continued care. Like Kathryn said in her book, the March of Dimes took on other diseases and discontinued their help with polio victims.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Misleading Info about the book- please read!!, November 11, 2002

By 

Amanda Silber (MD United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In the Shadow of Polio: A Personal and Social History (Paperback)

The book was inspirational and taught me a lot about the disease- things I never knew; but when I read the summary for this book, I thought it was going to be a story, not a research paper. Yes, Ms. Black does tell snippets of her mother's story every other chapter, but there is so much nitty gritty info in between- unless you want to know the entire history of the disease, don't buy this book. I did, thinking I would get an in depth view into the life of a family affected by polio, and instead got, for the most part, an essay on the history and effects of polio. Please don't be mislead by the title- it's a good title, but it conveys a personal and intimate sense which is not entirely present in the book itself. I hope my experience with this book helps you in the future.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent research combined with touching personal accounts., July 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: In the Shadow of Polio: A Personal and Social History (Paperback)

As a daughter of a polio survivor, I found this book to be an excellent resourse. the excellent research and doucumentation of a social and scientific phenomena of this century.