A Pox on Fools - by Thomas Levenson (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

An urgent and profound history of vaccine skepticism, seeking to understand how our three most common fears about vaccines hardened into a lethal ideology--from a leading science writer

"Brimming with righteous anger, this book should infuriate you for all the right reasons, and arm you to take on the grifters and their war against science."--Adam Rutherford, author of A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived: The Human Story Retold Through Our Genes

Since the advent of smallpox inoculation in the eighteenth century, the idea that a disease introduced to the body in some lesser, weakened form might prevent full-blown infection has been one of the greatest public health insights of the modern era, inspiring the invention of numerous vaccines and saving countless human lives. But, just as humanity acquired the god-like power to stop infectious disease in its tracks, some feared we had gone too far, leading to the skepticism that has hijacked public health discourse today.

In three sweeping essays written for our current moment of scientific mistrust, Thomas Levenson searches for the origins of the most common arguments against vaccines: that they are unnatural; that they are more dangerous than the illnesses they claim to prevent; and that they are an affront to freedom. Each arose from the earliest development of particular vaccines and the campaigns to distribute them. Even as the pattern repeats, Levenson reveals how innocent that skepticism initially was and, in each case, how very human fears and questions ultimately turned into something darker, where no truth would be enough to overcome the doubt.

Searing but ultimately empathetic, A Pox on Fools explores the human impulse to question and wonder--sometimes past the point at which the very act of questioning turns deadly.

Review Quotes

"This is a passionate book, on a subject that deservedly raises passions. Lethal epidemics of smallpox, polio, measles, and pertussis have been parallelled by memetic epidemics of anti-vaccine scare-mongering. Thomas Levenson documents the history, from honestly mistaken sceptics of previous centuries (Alfred Russell Wallace, Herbert Spencer) to today's villains (Andrew Wakefield, Donald Trump) and charlatans (Robert Kennedy Jr). At a time when vaccine science should be celebrating its greatest triumphs, this book could hardly be more important."--Richard Dawkins, bestselling author of The Selfish Gene

"Since the 1800 dawn of the age of vaccines, the life-saving miracles have had their opponents, decrying immunization to its public health advocates. The anti-vax arguments aren't new, as Tom Levenson shows. Only the fear-mongering voices have changed, now led by RFK Jr. A Pox of Fools is your go-to guide for countering the mendacity and conspiratorial thinking."--Laurie Garrett, bestselling author of The Coming Plague

"A Pox on Fools is a triumph--a tiny, mighty book and a stark reminder that vaccines have made us victims of our own success. Levenson's book shows how far we have come and calls out the lies and hypocrisy of anti-vaccine politicians who exploit our collective amnesia and endanger public health. It should be required reading for anyone living in this absurd and perilous time."--Adam Ratner, MD, MPH, author of Booster Shots

"Levenson serves up this powerful, timely, and important book about a technology that has extended and saved hundreds of millions of lives, and the incredible story of why we've begun to turn our backs on it."--Kevin Fong, MD, author of Extreme Medicine

"This highly readable account of how vaccines have saved millions of lives is a call to arms for anyone who cares about the future of vaccine confidence."--Meredith Wadman, author of The Vaccine Race

"In this desperately urgent book, Tom Levenson masterfully weaves science and history to explain why no health measure has saved quite so many lives as vaccines, and why it flies in the face of reason for health officials to turn their backs on them now. I hope absolutely everyone reads this."--Angela Saini, author of Superior

"A full-throated attack on 'Make America Healthy Again' and Robert Kennedy Jr. . . . lively . . . An impassioned but reasoned look at the culture and commerce of vaccine denial."--Kirkus Reviews

"In this enlightening account, science writer Levenson (So Very Small) surveys 300 years of vaccine opposition. Noting that much of today's antivax rhetoric is in fact centuries old, he starts with the first smallpox inoculations in the 18th century, finding that vaccine skepticism has long taken the same few approaches. . . . Indeed, the similarities to today's antivax movement that Levenson surfaces are often uncanny . . . a trenchant demonstration of how contemporary antivax ideology is not only inaccurate but rooted in outmoded, antimodern sentiments."--Publishers Weekly

About the Author

Thomas Levenson is a professor of science writing at MIT. He is the author of several books, including So Very Small, Money for Nothing, The Hunt for Vulcan, Einstein in Berlin, and Newton and the Counterfeiter: The Unknown Detective Career of the World's Greatest Scientist. He has also made ten feature-length documentaries (including a two-hour Nova program on Einstein) for which he has won numerous awards.