A Summer Plague: Polio and Its Survivors

by Tony Gould

A comprehensive account of the polio epidemic in the West, from the first major outbreak in New York in 1916 to post-polio syndrome, combining biographical, political, social, and microbiological perspectives and focusing on key individuals, such as President Roosevelt, Jonas Salk, and Sister Elizabeth Kenny. Concludes with a look at personal experiences of polio survivors in America and England, including the author's. Contains b&w photos. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

Genres: Medical, History, Nonfiction

398 pages, Hardcover

First published July 26, 1995

Reviews

[Meghan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book is outdated- you can tell because it refers to Jonas Salk in the present tense. Gould wishes for more written on polio, which there is now. He said he would use American or British terminology when talking about either place, but he did sometimes use British terms when talking about the U.S. He also used British spelling when quoting Americans. Though the British Medical Journal was sometimes abbreviated as BMJ, the Journal of the American Medical Association, which he mentioned more, was never abbreviated to JAMA.

[Vonda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good view into what it's like to have Polio and what patients went through.

[Deb · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a bit of a hotch potch. Sort of a history of polio in the 20th century, a bit about Salk and Sabin, a lot of oral history type stuff from survivors - sort of a three-in-one.