Polio and Its Aftermath: The Paralysis of Culture

In this book, Shell, himself a victim of polio, offers an inspired analysis of the disease. Part memoir, part cultural criticism and history, part meditation on the meaning of disease, Shell’s work combines the understanding of a medical researcher with the sensitivity of a literary critic.

Table of Contents:
Prologue I Autobiographies of a Disease 1 One Polio Story 27 2 In the Family 57 3 A Polio School 92 II Stasis and Kinesis 4 Paralytic Polio and Moving Pictures 129 5 Handi-Capitalism and Cinema Business 139 6 The Cast of Rear Window; or, Cinema and Akinesia 150 III Politics 7 Polio and the Great Wars 181 8 Remembering Roosevelt 190 9 What We Can Learn, If We Hurry 204 Aftermath 227 Notes 231 Acknowledgments 297 Text Credits 299 Illustration Credits 303 List of Boxes 307 Name Index 309 Subject Index 313

Review :
Marc Shell's Polio and Its Aftermath is something of a hybrid. It is part memoir, part literary, film, and cultural criticism, part cultural history, and part meditation on the meaning of disease, especially the cultural meaning of polio. There is nothing quite like this book in the extant literature on polio. Nothing with the sweep and range of Shell's book has been previously published. -- Daniel J. Wilson, author of Living with Polio: The Epidemic and Its Survivors Polio and Its Aftermath is distinctly original. There is nothing like it in the current literature. Shell's writing is at times witty and irreverent, but always outstanding. He uses some fabulous literary techniques that capture the reader's interest and imagination. Polio and Its Aftermath is truly outstanding. -- Julie K. Silver, author of Post-Polio Syndrome: A Guide for Polio Survivors and Their Families Shell mines the so-called polio school of literature to illuminate a world of suffering and survival, and presents a lengthy analysis of Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 masterpiece, Rear Window, in which Shell sees a nuanced representation of the myriad issues raised by the disease. More controversially, in Shell's opinion the euphoria following the triumph of the polio vaccine left society, and the medical establishment in particular, unprepared to deal with later widespread virus outbreaks, such as HIV. He writes passionately of polio in the present tense: not only does it stalk victims across the globe, but millions who survived past epidemics still suffer...Shell's conclusions are startling and worthy of attention. -- Publishers Weekly Marc Shell...makes some important points, including that polio has not been 'conquered, ' if only because millions of its victims are still alive, often suffering from post-polio syndrome. -- Andrew Jack Financial Times Marc Shell analyzes what he calls the vast field of "polio literature," namely published and unpublished works of poetry and prose, fiction and nonfiction, children's and adult literature that addresses polio either overtly or implicitly...Interspersed with his discussion of these cultural artifacts and technical developments is his personal account of contracting polio in Canada at the age of six. Shell moves easily between his own painful recollections and a dazzling array of texts...This book will be useful to anyone interested in the history and psychology of epidemics, in childhood in the first half of the twentieth century, and/or in disability studies. -- Elise Lamire American Historical Review This book will be useful to anyone interested in the history and psychology of epidemics, in childhood in the first half of the twentieth century, and/or in disability studies. -- Elise Lemire American Historical Review