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Pox: An American History (Penguin History of American Life) by [Michael Willrich]

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Michael Willrich

Pox: An American History (Penguin History of American Life) Kindle Edition

by Michael Willrich (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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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 powerful smallpox epidemic swept the United States from coast to coast. The age-old disease spread swiftly through an increasingly interconnected American landscape: from southern tobacco plantations to the dense immigrant neighborhoods of northern cities to far-flung villages on the edges of the nascent American empire. In Pox, award-winning historian Michael Willrich offers a gripping chronicle of how the nation's continentwide fight against smallpox launched one of the most important civil liberties struggles of the twentieth century.

At the dawn of the activist Progressive era and during a moment of great optimism about modern medicine, the government responded to the deadly epidemic by calling for universal compulsory vaccination. To enforce the law, public health authorities relied on quarantines, pesthouses, and "virus squads"-corps of doctors and club-wielding police. Though these measures eventually contained the disease, they also sparked a wave of popular resistance among Americans who perceived them as a threat to their health and to their rights.

At the time, anti-vaccinationists were often dismissed as misguided cranks, but Willrich argues that they belonged to a wider legacy of American dissent that attended the rise of an increasingly powerful government. While a well-organized anti-vaccination movement sprang up during these years, many Americans resisted in subtler ways-by concealing sick family members or forging immunization certificates. Pox introduces us to memorable characters on both sides of the debate, from Henning Jacobson, a Swedish Lutheran minister whose battle against vaccination went all the way to the Supreme Court, to C. P. Wertenbaker, a federal surgeon who saw himself as a medical missionary combating a deadly-and preventable-disease.

As Willrich suggests, many of the questions first raised by the Progressive-era antivaccination movement are still with us: How far should the government go to protect us from peril? What happens when the interests of public health collide with religious beliefs and personal conscience? In Pox, Willrich delivers a riveting tale about the clash of modern medicine, civil liberties, and government power at the turn of the last century that resonates powerfully today.

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436 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Penguin Books
Publication date

March 31, 2011
File size

2962 KB
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Willrich's account of the early days of the American progressive movement couldn't be more instructive or timely...a worthy read."
-"Booklist" (starred review)
"Willrich melds meticulous research with elegant writing to create a richly- textured social history...at the charged intersection of science, politics, race, and culture...You'll never think the same way again about the now all-but- mechanical ritual of rolling up your shirtsleeve for a vaccine needle."
-Hampton Sides, author of "Hellhound on His Trail"
..".In the highly skilled hands of Michael Willrich, hard cases make great history. We all have much to learn from this excellent book."
-David Hackett Fischer, author of "Champlain's Dream" and "Washington's Crossing"
"A fascinating, fast-paced story of America's last major smallpox epidemic...This is history at its best written by a master of his craft."
-Michael J. Klarman, author of "From Jim Crow to Civil Rights"
"Pox --This text refers to the paperback edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Today's controversies over vaccinations pale beside the pitched battles fought at the turn of the 20th century, to judge by this probing work. Historian Willrich (City of Courts) revisits the smallpox epidemic that ravaged the United States from 1898 to 1904 and sparked a showdown between the burgeoning Progressive-era regulatory regime and Americans fearful of the new Leviathan state and the specter of "state medicine." Anxious to stamp out the contagion, public health officials in the South quarantined African-Americans in detention camps if they were suspected of carrying the disease and vaccinated others at gunpoint; in New York "paramilitary vaccination squads" raided immigrant tenements, forcibly inoculating residents and dragging infected children off to pesthouses; their coercive methods sparked occasional riots and lawsuits that helped remake constitutional law. Willrich sees merit on both sides: draconian public health measures saved thousands of lives, but resisters did have legitimate concerns about vaccine safety and side effects, racial targeting and bodily integrity. He does tend to romanticize anti-vaccine activists, whose movement he associates with feminism, free speech, and abolitionism, styling them as "libertarian radicals" engaging in "intimate acts of civil disobedience." Still, his lucid, well-written, empathetic study of a fascinating episode shows why the vaccine issue still pricks the American conscience. Photos. (Apr. 4)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B004H4XD8Q
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin Books; 1st edition (March 31, 2011)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 31, 2011
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 2962 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 436 pages
Lending ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #494,611 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #67 in Epidemiology (Kindle Store)
- #206 in Vaccinations
- #245 in Medical History

Customer Reviews:
59 ratings

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Michael Willrich

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Top reviews from the United States

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Franklin the Mouse

Anti-Vaxxers Playing Viral Russian Roulette

Reviewed in the United States on September 29, 2021

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It was impossible for me to read ‘Pox’ and not continue to compare it with the public’s present reaction to Covid-19. The book was published in 2011. Mr. Willrich’s descriptions of large segments of our citizenry unwilling to get vaccinated in early 1900s echo today’s reasons. I found it truly discouraging that 120-years later, despite the seriousness of a deadly virus and our major advances in science as well as technology, a subset of humans seem to retain the reasoning and emotional qualities on par with Homer Simpson. ‘Pox’ focuses on the smallpox epidemics raging between 1898 and 1903 in the United States and its newly acquired territories. The nine-page epilogue zips through smallpox’s history up to present day and the challenges in eradicating future threats.

The highly contagious smallpox caused “… raging fevers, headaches, severe back pain, and, likely, vomiting, followed by the distinctive eruption of pocks on their faces and bodies.” Historically, the virus killed 25-30% of all those infected, yet, different strains of the smallpox could only result in as low as 10% of people dying. The little bugger surely didn’t mess around. The advent of variolations and vaccinations made the chances of surviving smallpox much greater. The author gives a clear explanation of how the virus works. There are a handful of black-and-white photos sprinkled throughout the book and I recommend you avoid eating while looking at one specific example. ‘Pox’ covers such topics as pesthouses and the blowback of NIMBYism; the advent of a national public health system; the urban-and-rural divide towards vaccination; how Jim Crow and stereotypes of the poor affected the way smallpox was handled; the U.S. military health forces successfully intervened during the Spanish-American War towards citizens of Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Philippines; the debates about risk, responsibility and the role of government in managing both; compulsory vaccination; the market for phony vaccination certificates; the disagreements between the American Medical Association and alternative-medicine practitioners; mandatory vaccinations for all immigrants; government coercion versus working-class resistance; and the moral grey areas involving religious and civil liberties. The book also touches upon other virus scourges as typhoid, cholera, malaria, yellow fever, and tuberculosis. Much like today, rumors back then quickly undermined facts. Granted, at the turn of the nineteenth century, the unregulated making of vaccinations in the United States by any entrepreneurial Tom, Dick, or Harry certainly warranted people being skittish but government intervention quickly led to dramatic improvements in the quality of vaccines. Much like our efforts to improve food safety and remove water-borne illnesses that plagued the early nineteenth century, our society today is also vastly safer when it comes to medical practices. The last chapter deals with the legal arguments and decisions concerning mandated vaccinations.

At its core, the story is about the struggle between personal liberty and a deep distrust of government versus social responsibility with government spearheading it. Much like today, vaccine resistance was more prevalent in southern states and rural areas. Violence against mandates and the location of pesthouses were common. The worldwide eradication of smallpox was through a strategy of isolation, surveillance, and targeted vaccination. Force was often used. Mr. Willrich’s ‘Pox’ unintentionally highlights how little has changed in the regionally mindsets of Americans. The book was well-written, informative, and discouraging when I consider how easy it was for Trump and conspiracy pushers to hornswoggle such a sizeable group of Americans.

2 people found this helpful

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Aaron Writes

An excellent resource for gaining historical context to our current health crisis

Reviewed in the United States on December 11, 2021

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This book provides much needed historical context for understanding the opposing views of our current health crisis. I felt the author did a great job of presenting the various sides and points of views without trying to sway the reader's opinion toward any particular side. For me, that's the "right" way of reporting history ... presenting various points of view fairly and letting the readers ponder upon the facts in order to make up their own minds. Well done.

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D_shrink

May the Pox NOT Be Upon YOU!

Reviewed in the United States on April 12, 2011

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This is a story of medical science and public health officials both battling fear, ignorance, stubbornness to new scientific advances and yet political and social engineering correctness of its day, all in the name of finding a way to treat and/or prevent smallpox more technically called variola. The expression MAY THE POX BE UPON YOU was considered one of the worse curses of earlier days and a play upon the title of this review.

This is a 422 page book with 73 pages of cites, notes, and index, so is well researched and not casually written, yet it reads like a wonderful medical and social novel. The book opens with trying to pin down the beginning of the NYC smallpox outbreak at the turn of the 20th Century. It ascribes one of the early documented cases to Madeline Lyon a 12yo girl diagnosed on 11/27/1900 the Tuesday before Thanksgiving of that year.

Over the centuries, smallpox was considered to be the deadliest contagious disease in the world with some 300 million deaths through the 20th century and an average mortality rate of 25-30%, but which could vary from a mere 10% to a staggering 60% depending on the strain involved. This struggle for a prevention or cure also turned out to be one of the first and one of the most important struggles for civil liberties regarding the fight against mandatory vaccination for the good of the populace as a whole, similar to the feelings some have about childhood vaccines today. Around the turn of the 20th Century and even somewhat later the disease was thought to be brought on by outsiders and predominantly male Negroes. And it is true that Blacks and males suffered in disproportionate degrees, but it was due primarily to their proximate living conditions in labor camps of the day and not due to race or gender. Yet, as it typical, society always needs someone to blame.

Even though Edward Jenner discovered a vaccine to prevent smallpox by using the cowpox virus [the word vaccine comes from the Latin word vaccina referring to bovines] it wasn't officially eradicated until 1980, with the last documented case of young Somali girl on 10/31/1977.

Smallpox was the disease upon which the field of immunology was founded, and helped spur the discovery of two important medical developments; the first being freeze dried vaccines which allowed their potency to last much longer and the second being the bi-bifurcated needle which allowed 4X as many people to be vaccinated with the same amount of innoculant.

The novel aspect of the story is well told in the discussion of various epidemic outbreaks and how the medical and political teams worked together and against each other with each trying to maintain their respective fiefdoms. It is a great read for any person interested in medical history and scientific sleuthing.

18 people found this helpful

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Caitlin

Buy a hard copy

Reviewed in the United States on September 30, 2021

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This is an excellent book but there are a frustrating number of errors in the Kindle version. That said, we have much to learn in our time from what happened a 150 years ago with small pox.

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Reader One

so repetitive and disorganized it's practically unreadable

Reviewed in the United States on April 11, 2018

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C'mon Penguin, spring for an editor! The book covers important material but is so repetitive and disorganized it's practically unreadable. Too bad.

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Kimr

I had to read this book for a class and ...

Reviewed in the United States on March 24, 2015

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I had to read this book for a class and it was surprisingly interesting. Definitely puts the smallpox epidemic into the context of it's time.

One person found this helpful

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Always Reading

POX

Reviewed in the United States on December 25, 2012

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This book was recommended to me by a niece. It is an interesting read. Never realized that smallpox was so rampant in the United States. Recommend to anyone interested in this type of history.

One person found this helpful

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Jeanajoan

Very detailed work

Reviewed in the United States on August 16, 2013

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This is about the conflicts in the history of immunization and it still goes on. The author did a great job with the research and writing.

2 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Laura O'Reilly

Not What I Thought It Was Going To Be About

Reviewed in Canada on May 2, 2014

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When I bought this book I thought it was going to be about the history of small pox, what I didn't realize it was just about the American history of small pox.
The author does touch do a good job covering the history of small pox in America, the different outbreaks, the forced vaccinations, the invention of vaccinations, the new regulations of medical profession and vaccinations, the war against vaccinations. It was very informative. I had no idea that anti-vaccinationist existed in the early 1900's, I thought there were a product of the 1980's.

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