Product Description
Here David Oshinsky tells the gripping story of the polio terror and of the intense effort to find a cure, from the March of Dimes to the discovery of the Salk and Sabin vaccines--and beyond. Drawing on newly available papers of Jonas Salk, Albert Sabin and other key players, Oshinsky paints a suspenseful portrait of the race for the cure, weaving a dramatic tale centered on the furious rivalry between Salk and Sabin. He also tells the story of Isabel Morgan, perhaps the most talented of all polio researchers, who might have beaten Salk to the prize if she had not retired to raise a family. Oshinsky offers an insightful look at the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, which was founded in the 1930s by FDR and Basil O'Connor, it revolutionized fundraising and the perception of disease in America. Oshinsky also shows how the polio experience revolutionized the way in which the government licensed and tested new drugs before allowing them on the market, and the way in which the legal system dealt with manufacturers' liability for unsafe products. Finally, and perhaps most tellingly, Oshinsky reveals that polio was never the raging epidemic portrayed by the media, but in truth a relatively uncommon disease. But in baby-booming America--increasingly suburban, family-oriented, and hygiene-obsessed--the specter of polio, like the specter of the atomic bomb, soon became a cloud of terror over daily life. Both a gripping scientific suspense story and a provocative social and cultural history, Polio opens a fresh window onto postwar America.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 41 reviews)

More a political than scientific script by Meyer D. Sculimbrene (Fort Valley, Va.)

1 Stars
September 25, 2009
One of the problems with downloading books rather than perusing a book in a book shop or library is the title sometimes carries hidden propraganda, misleading and sometimes gross errors. The flu epidemic began AFTER the US entry in WWI, and was one of the human costs directly atributable to our entry into WWI. The "Spanish Flu" tore through overcrowed army camps before the virus expanded into the general population. The lenthy description of FDR's fight with polio is too long on politics, and too short on the scientific. Jonas Salk's loyalty problems were brought on by the factual reality that many of the most educated and inelligent men and women in the US had a love affair with Stalin's Communism which in reality was no different than Hitler's Facism. In the areas where the author talks simply about science, I began to wonder about his accuracy since he made so many errors regarding dates, political facts, and his personal ideology. As one of the children who were used as tests, I welcomed the opportunity to learn more about polio, and how it was defeated. I grew up in the 1950's and still remember the fear that was part of my generation.

A wonderful story of disease, scientific progress, human egos, and change by Bookworm

5 Stars
September 14, 2009
This book should be a must read for for anyone entering the health care field. You could not put together a fictional story with any more compelling themes. The historical elements such as the role of polio in developing the modern biomedical research funding system and peer review and the intersections of research politics, and funding were absolutely fascinating. The shows the greatness of human achievement and the simultaneous flawed nature of even these same immensely talented people. Neither Salk nor Sabin appeared to understand that there was enough recognition and accolades for each to be viewed as a great contributor to ending the scourge of polio.

Some questionable information by Bettye Johnson (Pacific Northwest)

3 Stars
September 06, 2009
Oshinsky may be a Pulitzer Prize winner, however he has some erroneous information in this book. I lived in San Angelo, Texas during this epidemic. The year was 1939 - NOT 1949. I was 10 years old that summer and the swimming pool was closed. I remember the hospital being filled with patients in iron lungs. The tuberculosis hospital outside of San Angelo was also filled with polio patients. So, shame on you David Oshinsky for not getting your facts correct. When I became an adult, I wondered why San Angelo. San Angelo was out in the middle of nowhere with the mesquite trees, cacti, sandstorms, horned toads and there was no pollution unless the wind blew the fumes in from the oil fields. The population at that time was approximately 55,000 people.

Fascinating account of the polio story by A. Davis (Philadelphia, PA USA)

5 Stars
April 09, 2009
I noticed this book was mentioned in the credits of a PBS "American Experience" program on the polio epidemic, so I decided to read it. Dr. Oshinsky chronicles the paranoia, publicity, and politics of polio, as well as the race to develop a vaccine. There were costly errors in the early days of vaccine research and a number of false starts. Researchers were essentially battling each other, criticizing each other's methods and findings. There were problems with the vaccine manufacturing process that led to new cases of the disease. It was anything but a simple process. The entire book represents a fascinating account of the polio epidemic and eventual eradication of the disease. I found that I couldn't wait to read further to see what happened next.

excellent, informative, well written by RBC Ed.D (Illinois)

5 Stars
March 29, 2009
This book details the struggle to prevent polio using a vaccine. It is not about polio treatment, pathology or epidemiology. The heroes are Basil O'Connor, and Jonas Salk, who collaborated (O'Connor on fundraising, and Salk on the science) on the breakthrough vaccine in the mid 1950's. Both, in their own ways were indispensable to the success of the vaccine. Detailed in extensive luster was the political back-fighting, and petty, competitive, jousting between the various scientists involved in the crusade against polio. Suffice it to say that Salk, hailed as the early hero, using (a) killed virus in his formula, was quickly deposed by Albert Sabin, champion of the live virus vaccine. Indeed, Sabin who spent his career belittling Jonas Salk, and his methodology, designed a vaccine using live virus that became the industry standard. The Salk vaccine was now clearly second fiddle. Years later, however, after both men had passed away, and having the benefit of years of testing, it was indeed proven that Salk's approach, using killed virus, was superior to the Sabin formula. It was shown that the live virus vaccine caused polio in an extremely small number of recipients. The Salk vaccine, however, when produced, maintained, and administered properly, never caused a case of polio. This is a book about heroes, intellectual curiosity, greed, ego, and once again, shines brightly on FDR, who placed O'Connor in charge of the fight. Highly recommended!

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