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In The Contagion of Liberty, historian Andrew Wehrman traces the path of the smallpox-inoculation movement, and its generally overlooked impact on politics around the American War of Independence. He argues that smallpox influenced the journey towards independence from British rule, and how Americans conceived of their new, hard-won liberties. It is a tale of startling contemporary relevance.As vaccination was privatized, he argues, the concept of a civic duty to protect public health was displaced by the idea of disease as a consequence of personal negligence.
The Covid pandemic wasn't the first time that America has found itself split along ideological seams over infectious disease.As historian Andrew Wehrman explains in The Contagion of Liberty: The Politics of Smallpox in the American Revolution, our downright violent resistance to, and demand for freedom from, the disease was also precisely what helped galvanize our mobilization of independence from England.
The Contagion of Liberty is a timely and fascinating account of the raucous public demand for smallpox inoculation during the American Revolution.This thought-provoking history offers a new dimension to our understanding of both the American Revolution and the origins of public health in the United States.
In The Contagion f Liberty, Andrew Wehrman weaves together dozens of individual stories and their layered historical contexts to provide a fascinating account of smallpox in America, from colonial times through the early republic. A deeply researched and gracefully written volume.
Timely and thought provoking.
Over the past three years of the COVID-19 pandemic, controversies about preventive measures, government versus individual control of health, medical racism and health inequities, disease versus the economy, and vaccine mandates have raged. Wehrman shows that this is not new ground we are treading...
Andrew Wehrman makes a robust case that there is nothing new under the sun in public health in his fantastic new monographThe Contagion of Liberty is both timely and sturdy in its findingsIt belongs on any list of the best history books of 2023.
An accessible and valuable example of the long history of American healthcare controversies.
The Contagion of Liberty is a well-argued and extremely timely book. The depth of research and attention to political as well as medical debates make it a rare successful crossover text of interest to both historians of medicine and historians of the American Revolution. The strength and clarity of the argument and variety of evidence brought to bear make this book a must-read for students and scholars of the period. Wehrman demonstrates that the history of health and disease are essential—not supplemental—to our understanding of the past.
Well written and engaging....Rather than positioning epidemics and disease as natural phenomenon existing next to social and cultural questions, as most histories of that period do, [Wehrman] convincingly shows that smallpox and inoculation were part of political debates and ideas flowing through the history of the United States' independence....As recent epidemiological and political challenges of the present and recent past remind us, and as Wehrman aptly illuminates, these debates remain as pertinent today as they were in 1776.
A significant contribution to the literature on attempts to control smallpox in the United States as well as to the history of US health care in general. The Contagion of Liberty is a novel, innovative approach in connecting the threat of smallpox in early America with the threat to liberty from Great Britain and the ideology of the American Revolution.
Thoroughly researched and documented. Wehrman provides a nuanced description of smallpox and its history, focused on the thirteen colonies, the Revolutionary Era, and the Early Republic. He makes an original contribution to the history of smallpox inoculation and the early decades of vaccination, as well as the history of disease. By anchoring the story firmly in the political developments of the period, he also makes a substantial contribution to wider American history.
The Contagion of Liberty is innovative, readable, and utterly convincing. Andrew Wehrman leaves me more certain than ever that we cannot understand the Revolutionary War if we do not understand smallpox. To do so is to understand America itself.
An important and revealingly detailed study of late-eighteenth century arguments and local disputes over smallpox inoculation and vaccination. These debates and social conflicts provide a creative sampling device, contributing in granular fashion to our understanding of America's revolutionary generation.
In clear and graceful prose, Wehrman shows smallpox inoculation repeatedly spilling over into everything from class conflict to false claims that Black people could not be immunized. During the American War of Independence, precedent, including Martha Washington's successful inoculation, and what Wehrman calls 'desperate voices from below' dissolved Gen. Washington's qualms about immunizing the Continental Army: arguably his most valuable gift to the nation.
A rollicking account of smallpox in the era of the American Revolution, when public health populism meant demand from below for a state-sponsored inoculation campaign. George Washington's legendary order to inoculate the Continental Army now appears as the culmination of decades of popular politics around freedom not from government but from disease.
About
Book Details
Publication Date
Status
Available
Trim Size
6
x 9
Pages
416
ISBN
9781421444666
Illustration Description
14 b&w illus., 2 maps
Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1. Sore Spots: Making Inoculation American
Chapter 2. General Inoculation in Boston
Chapter 3. The Norfolk Riots
Chapter 4. The Siege of Castle Pox
Chapter 5. Creating a Critical Mass
C
Introduction
Chapter 1. Sore Spots: Making Inoculation American
Chapter 2. General Inoculation in Boston
Chapter 3. The Norfolk Riots
Chapter 4. The Siege of Castle Pox
Chapter 5. Creating a Critical Mass
Chapter 6. From Rumors to Remedies
Chapter 7. George Washington's About-Face
Chapter 8. Thirteen Scars
Chapter 9. Inoculation Nation
Chapter 10. Vaccination Pains
Conclusion
Acknowledgements
Notes
Index
Featured Contributor
Andrew M. Wehrman
Andrew M. Wehrman is an associate professor of history at Central Michigan University. A winner of the Walter Muir Whitehill Prize in Early American History, his writing has appeared in The New England Quarterly, The Boston Globe, and The Washington Post.
