Between Hope and Fear: A History of Vaccines and Human Immunity

by Michael Kinch Narrated by Mel Foster

Overview

If you have a child in school, you may have heard stories of long-dormant diseases suddenly reappearing-cases of measles, mumps, rubella, and whooping cough cropping up everywhere from elementary schools to Ivy League universities because a select group of parents refuses to vaccinate their children. Between Hope and Fear tells the remarkable story of vaccine-preventable infectious diseases and their social and political implications. While detailing the history of vaccine invention, Michael Kinch reveals the ominous reality that our victories against vaccine-preventable diseases are not permanent-and could easily be undone. In the tradition of John Barry's The Great Influenza and Siddhartha Mukherjee's The Emperor of All Maladies, Between Hope and Fear relates the remarkable intersection of science, technology, and disease that has helped eradicate many of the deadliest plagues known to man.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

04/23/2018
Kinch (A Prescription for Change), director of the Center for Research Innovation in Biotechnology at Washington University in St. Louis, studiously chronicles some of the worst disease outbreaks in human history and the development of the vaccines that stanched the tide of suffering. He traces the trail of smallpox from its early days as the “Antonine Plague” in ancient Rome, through the arrival of the Spanish in the New World, to the eventual development of the smallpox vaccine by Edward Jenner in 1796. He recalls the development of the drug AZT, used to treat HIV and AIDS, by a band of scientists with Nobel Prize–winning biochemist Gertrude “Trudie” Elion at the helm, and details the nationalist rivalry between Louis Pasteur and German microbiologist Robert Koch. Kinch also gives accessible science lessons in immune-activating interferons, how the T cells and B cells function in the human immune system, and the different problems in treating bacterial and viral infections. Kinch’s main purpose, however, is to warn against the dangers of the antivaccine movement, “fringe elements in the public” who believe in discredited links between various vaccines and autism. Kinch’s argument in favor of reason and science over fear and charlatanism is cogent and well-researched, presenting a large-scale chronological narrative of disease and prevention. Agent: Don Fehr, Trident Media Group. (July)

Wall Street Journal

"The immune system is notoriously complex, and Mr. Kinch offers a masterly exposition of the evolution and operation of our defense against disease-causing microorganisms. The author skillfully weaves historical figures into his narrative, with a good eye for largely forgotten players. Mr. Kinch’s volume ought to be read by parents and policy makers alike, and its message heeded by all."

Dr. Richard N. Foster

"Provides a brilliant, revealing, commonsense, and well-written answer to a timely and essential question."

Bill Bryson

"A terrific book—insightful, authoritative, and endlessly absorbing."

New York Review of Books

"The story of smallpox—its malignity and humanity’s triumph over it—is told in Michael Kinch’s Between Hope and Fear. Kinch is profoundly alarmed by our collective amnesia."

The New York Times Book Review

"An important book. As Michael Kinch tells us in Between Hope and Fear, vaccinations have saved millions, possibly billions, of lives. Along with antisepsis and anesthesia, they rank as one of the greatest achievements of scientific medicine. It is therefore deeply disturbing that in recent decades a significant minority of people in the world’s wealthier countries has become opposed to them. If even a small number of parents decide not to have their child vaccinated because of an alleged (and usually spurious) risk from the vaccine, they are putting enormous numbers of children at risk of contracting the disease the vaccine protects against.... Kinch has done early scientists a great service by recounting their contributions. There are some fascinating episodes about the discovery and use of bacteriophages (viruses that attack bacteria) and the way in which they might become important again as antibiotic resistance is increasingly a problem."

Health Affairs

"A cogent and comprehensive view of where the drug industry is today and how it got there."

Science Magazine

"Well explained and illustrated with useful anecdotes."

Henry Marsh - The New York Times Book Review

An important book. As Michael Kinch tells us in Between Hope and Fear, vaccinations have saved millions, possibly billions, of lives. Along with antisepsis and anesthesia, they rank as one of the greatest achievements of scientific medicine. It is therefore deeply disturbing that in recent decades a significant minority of people in the world’s wealthier countries has become opposed to them. If even a small number of parents decide not to have their child vaccinated because of an alleged (and usually spurious) risk from the vaccine, they are putting enormous numbers of children at risk of contracting the disease the vaccine protects against…. Kinch has done early scientists a great service by recounting their contributions. There are some fascinating episodes about the discovery and use of bacteriophages (viruses that attack bacteria) and the way in which they might become important again as antibiotic resistance is increasingly a problem.

Wall Street Journal

The immune system is notoriously complex, and Mr. Kinch offers a masterly exposition of the evolution and operation of our defense against disease-causing microorganisms. The author skillfully weaves historical figures into his narrative, with a good eye for largely forgotten players. Mr. Kinch’s volume ought to be read by parents and policy makers alike, and its message heeded by all.

New York Times Book Review

An important book. As Michael Kinch tells us in Between Hope and Fear, vaccinations have saved millions, possibly billions, of lives. Kinch has done early scientists a great service by recounting their contributions. There are some fascinating episodes about the discovery and use of bacteriophages (viruses that attack bacteria) and the way in which they might become important again as antibiotic resistance is increasingly a problem.

Kirkus Reviews

2018-04-30
A comprehensive history of the science of vaccination.Next to clean water, vaccines are the greatest lifesaver in modern society, so readers of this admirable account will thrill to stories of the conquest of historical plagues (smallpox, diphtheria, polio) and research into preventing today's deadly infections (AIDS, tuberculosis, dengue, Ebola). Biting off more than many writers could chew, Kinch (Pharmacology/Washington Univ.; A Prescription for Change: The Looming Crisis in Drug Development, 2016) adds a fine history of the evolution of life, emphasizing the development and operation of the immune system. And there's more. At regular intervals, the author returns to a subject of intense interest to a small group that will likely not buy his book: opponents of vaccination. Although much in the news, they have existed since the beginning, and their reasons have only one thread in common: All are wrong. "The volume and advocacy of false facts by an obnoxious and loud minority has overwhelmed the fact-based attempts by credible sources to expound the extraordinary health benefits of vaccination," writes Kinch. "Unfortunately, the scientific community has largely demurred from confronting these loud disagreements." Partly through their efforts, American smallpox deaths rose during the 19th century after the introduction of vaccination. It was the law that turned the tide. Beginning in 1905, court decisions affirmed that compulsory vaccination, like water chlorination, is a legitimate government public health function. Courts—not the facts—remain the American anti-vaccine movement's most effective opponent. Like evidence that the Earth is not flat or that Elvis is dead, careful studies showing that vaccines save lives rarely convince true believers and bore many who have not taken up the cause, but readers who persist will be rewarded with a riveting chronicle of one of the greatest accomplishments in the history of medical science.A useful book that effectively "conveys the challenges posed by infectious disease and relates a story of unparalleled successes in vaccines that have raised both the quality and quantity of life for all people."

Product Details

BN ID:	2940177353395
Publisher:	Dreamscape Media
Publication date:	01/14/2020
Edition description:	Unabridged

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