Splendid Solution, Jeffrey Kluger
Splendid Solution, Jeffrey Kluger
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Splendid Solution
Jonas Salk and the Conquest of Polio

Author: Jeffrey Kluger

Narrator: Michael Prichard

Unabridged: 13 hr 12 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 04/01/2005


Synopsis

The riveting story of one of the greatest scientific accomplishments of the twentieth century, from the coauthor of the #1 New York Times bestseller Apollo 13.

With rivalries, reversals, and a race against time, the struggle to eradicate polio is one of the great tales of modern history. It begins with the birth of Jonas Salk, shortly before one of the worst polio epidemics in United States history. At the time, the disease was a terrifying enigma: striking from out of nowhere, it afflicted tens of thousands of children in this country each year and left them-literally overnight-paralyzed, and sometimes at death's door.

Salk was in medical school just as a president crippled by the disease, Franklin D. Roosevelt, was taking office-and providing the impetus to the drive for studies on polio. By the early 1950s, Salk had already helped create an influenza vaccine, and was hot on the trail of the polio virus. He was nearly thwarted, though, by the politics of medicine and by a rival researcher eager to discredit his proposed solution. Meanwhile, in 1952, polio was spreading in record numbers, with 57,000 cases in the United States that summer alone.

In early 1954, Salk was weighing the possibility of trials of a not-yet-perfected vaccine against-as the summer approached-the prospect of thousands more children being struck down by the disease. The results of the history-making trials were announced at a press conference on April 12, 1955: "The vaccine works." The room-and an entire nation-erupted in cheers for this singular medical achievement.

Salk became a cultural hero and icon for a whole generation. Now, at the fiftieth anniversary of the first national vaccination program-and as humanity is tantalizingly close to eradicating polio worldwide-comes this unforgettable chronicle. Salk's work was an unparalleled achievement-and it makes for a magnificent read.

About Jeffrey Kluger

Jeffrey Kluger is a senior editor and writer at Time magazine. He is the coauthor of the bestseller Apollo 13 and the author of Simplexity, Splendid Solution, Journey Beyond Selene, Moon Hunters, and two novels for young adults. He lives in New York City with his wife and daughters.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Greg on March 31, 2020

Kluger weaves together a gripping story about how polio consumed the public mood in the early-to-mid 20th century and about the scientific work to eradicate it. It is primarily told through the prism of Jonas Salk’s work which eventually led to a vaccine. But, as Kluger explains, the goal of a vacci......more

Goodreads review by Clif on April 08, 2016

This book provides parallel biographies of Jonas Salk and the campaign to conquer the polio virus. Today we tend to forget how scary polio was. Its psychological impact was especially devastating because it attacked mostly children. Until 1955, when the Salk vaccine was introduced, polio was conside......more

Goodreads review by Nicole on December 02, 2008

This book was well written in many ways. It managed to teach me a lot about vaccines without being dry at all. It also conveyed the fear of the polio era well. Great photographs and historical detail. But the reason I can only give this book 3 stars is its relentless positive spin on all of Salk's ac......more

Goodreads review by Jerzy on April 08, 2016

A well-dramatized telling of the Salk polio vaccine's origins. It's a gripping read, demonstrating the widespread terror of polio season among parents and kids, even telling the sad stories of a few polio victims who played roles in the vaccine's testing and development. But sometimes it felt like th......more

Goodreads review by Robert on April 18, 2017

Polio was such a scary disease; we all feared it as kids even though the Vaccine was already widely in use when I had my sugar cube in the early 60s. Learning about how President Franklin Roosevelt contracted it in the early 1920s & learned to live with it has always been inspiring to be certain but......more