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About Vaccines: A Biography
Product Description Why another book about vaccines? There are already a few extremely well-written medical textbooks that provide comprehensive, state-of-the-art technical reviews regarding vaccine science. Additionally, in the past decade alone, a number of engrossing, provocative books have been published on various related issues ra- ing from vaccines against specific diseases to vaccine safety and policy. Yet there remains a significant gap in the literature – the history of vaccines. Vaccines: A Biography seeks to fill a void in the extant literature by focusing on the history of vaccines and in so doing, recounts the social, cultural, and scientific history of vaccines; it places them within their natural, historical context. The book traces the lineage – the “biography” – of individual vaccines, originating with deeply rooted medical problems and evolving to an eventual conclusion. Nonetheless, these are not “biographies” in the traditional sense; they do not trace an individual’s growth and development. Instead, they follow an idea as it is conceived and dev- oped, through the contributions of many. These are epic stories of discovery, of risk-takers, of individuals advancing medical science, in the words of the famous physical scientist Isaac Newton, “by standing on the shoulders of giants. ” One grant reviewer described the book’s concept as “triumphalist”; although meant as an indictment, this is only partially inaccurate. From the Back Cover Recounting the social, cultural, and scientific history of vaccines, Vaccines: A Biography traces the lineage―the ‘biography’―of individual vaccines, originating with deeply rooted medical problems, following ideas as they are conceived and developed, leading eventually to practical, preventive solutions to major public health problems in society. Yet these are not ‘biographies’ in the traditional sense; they do not trace an individual’s growth and development. These are epic stories of discovery, of risk-takers. They have all the trappings of fiction: strong protagonists who succeed against sometimes great odds, interpersonal conflicts, deceit, political intrigue, ethical dilemmas, and dramatic, if not staged events. They are set in the major centers of Europe and the United States, on farms and in slums, and in exotic venues from Calcutta to French Indochina to Cairo to Panama. They occur in the halls of academia, research laboratories, the chambers of government, and on the battlefields of war. At its core, Vaccine: A Biography is the history of individuals advancing medical science, in the words of the famous physical scientist Isaac Newton, "by standing on the shoulders of giants".
