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A study of Australian nurse Sister Elizabeth Kenny and her efforts to have her unorthodox methods of treating polio accepted as mainstream polio care in the United States during the 1940s. A case study of changing clinical care, and an examination of the hidden politics of philanthropies and medical societies.
List of contents
- Introduction
- Part One
- 1 A Bush Nurse in America
- 2 The Battle Begins
- 3 Changing Clinical Care
- Part Two
- 4 Polio and Disability Politics
- 5 The Polio Wars
- 6 Celluloid
- Part Three
- 7 Kenny Goes to Washington
- 8 Fading Glory
- 9 I Knew Sister Kenny
About the author
Naomi Rogers, PhD, is a tenured Associate Professor in the Program for the History of Science and Medicine at Yale University where she teaches medical students, undergraduates and graduate students.
Summary
A study of Australian nurse Sister Elizabeth Kenny and her efforts to have her unorthodox methods of treating polio accepted as mainstream polio care in the United States during the 1940s. A case study of changing clinical care, and an examination of the hidden politics of philanthropies and medical societies.
Additional text
Polio Wars provides an excellent account of the politics of gender, philanthropy, and American medicine during the mid-twentieth century, and will benefit junior and more senior scholars alike.
