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Polio and Its Aftermath: The Paralysis of Culture
 
 
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Polio and Its Aftermath: The Paralysis of Culture [Hardcover]

Marc Shell (Author)
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Marc Shell
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Product Description

Product Description

It was not long ago that scientists proclaimed victory over polio, the dread disease of the 1950s. More recently polio resurfaced, not conquered at all, spreading across the countries of Africa. As we once again face the specter of this discase, along with other killers like AIDS and SARS, this powerful book reminds us of the personal cost, the cultural implications, and the historical significance of one of modern humanity's deadliest biological enemies. In Polio and Its Aftermath Marc Shell, himself a victim of polio, offers an inspired analysis of the disease. Part memoir, part cultural criticism and history, part meditation on the meaning of disease, Shell's work combines the understanding of a medical researcher with the sensitivity of a literary critic. He deftly draws a detailed yet broad picture of the lived experience of a crippling disease as it makes it way into every facet of human existence. Polio and Its Aftermath conveys the widespread panic that struck as the disease swept the world in the mid-fifties. It captures an atmosphere in which polio vied with the Cold War as the greatest cause of unrest in North America - and in which a strange and often debilitating uncertainty was one of the disease's salient but least treatable symptoms. Polio particularly afflicted the young, and Shell explores what this meant to families and communities. And he reveals why, in spite of the worldwide relief that greeted Jonas Salk's vaccine as a miracle of modern science, we have much more to fear from polio now than we know.

About the Author

Marc Shell is the Irving Babbitt Professor of Comparative Literature at Harvard University and the editor of American Babel (Harvard).
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14 of 17 people found the following review helpful
A cultural history and survey of the meaning of polio in society 7 Aug 2005
By Midwest Book Review - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
There was a time when fear of polio held America in its grip, much as the public fears terrorism today: though in recent decades polio has been all but eliminated, readers may be surprised to learn it's not only resurfaced but spread in various African nations, and is still with us even while the society-wide fear is gone. Professor Marc Shell is concerned about this collective amnesia: his Polio And Its Aftermath: The Paralysis Of Culture focuses not on the climax but the aftermath of the polio trauma. Polio And Its Aftermath comes from personal experience as well: Shell himself contracted polio in 1953 at the age of six, making this part memoir as well as a cultural history and survey of the meaning of polio in society.
Interesting book on Polio history 14 Feb 2010
By Harper Lee III - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a well written and interesting book about polio both from a historical view and as a personal account. I recommend it highly.

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