Splendid Solution: Jonas Salk and the Conquest of Polio

by Jeffrey Kluger

Overview

The compelling true story of Dr. Jonas Salk's quest to develop a vaccine for polio.

In 1916, the United States was hit with one of the worst polio epidemics in history. The disease was a terrifying enigma: striking out of nowhere, it afflicted tens of thousands of children and left them—literally overnight—paralyzed. Others it simply killed. At the same time, a child named Jonas Salk was born....

When Franklin Delano Roosevelt was diagnosed with polio shortly before assuming the Presidency, Salk was given an impetus to study this deadly illness. After assisting in the creation of an influenza vaccine, Salk took up the challenge. His progress in combating the virus was hindered by the politics of medicine and by a rival researcher determined to discredit his proposed solution. But Salk's perseverance made history—and for close to seventy years his vaccine has saved countless lives, bringing humanity close to eradicating polio throughout the world.

Splendid Solution chronicles Dr. Salk's race against time to achieve an unparalleled breakthrough that made him a cultural hero and icon of modern medicine.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780425205709
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	02/07/2006
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.95(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Jeffrey Kluger is Editor at Large for TIME magazine and the author of twelve books, including The Narcissist Next Door, Splendid Solution, Apollo 13, Apollo 8 and the novel Holdout. He has written more than 40 cover stories for TIME on topics ranging from space to human behavior to climate to medicine. Along with others at TIME, Kluger is an Emmy nominee for the web series A Year in Space.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Splendid Solution

“Gripping...colorful and fast-paced...brings Salk to life.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Provides [a] shot of adrenaline in retelling [the] polio vaccine race...To tell this tale, Jeffrey Kluger has pulled intricate scientific concepts from remote lab shelves and has shone a readable, engaging light on them. Splendid Solution is meticulously reported and gracefully told, with medical, social, and political factors made equal parts of a very large equation.”—The Boston Globe

“Tense and gripping...Tells how polio was beaten fifty years ago in one of the triumphs of modern medicine.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

From the Publisher

For children today, the word "polio" means little more than a series of shots, a mundane part of health care. Fifty years ago, however, polio was a dark shadow that arrived every summer, a deep fear hanging over every child and parent. Every year, the disease left tens of thousands of children crippled, paralyzed or, worse, reliant on an iron lung to aid them in breathing. Time magazine senior writer Kluger, coauthor of the bestselling book that was the basis for the movie Apollo 13, tells how polio was beaten 50 years ago in one of the triumphs of modern medicine. The narrative naturally centers on Jonas Salk, whose lab developed the first polio vaccine, but this is by no means a simple biography. Kluger is best when describing science as a team enterprise, and this account offers a keen understanding of the vast machine of people and resources mobilized to combat polio. The book is well researched and accessible, made all the more tense and gripping by the author's depiction of the pre-vaccine world-by describing what it was like to live in fear of polio, Kluger reminds us how joyous and heroic an event its conquest was. B&w photos not seen by PW. Agent, Joy Harris Literary Agency. (Feb. 1) Forecast: The 50th anniversary of Salk's polio vaccine will be commemorated by a Smithsonian exhibit, among other events. This year is also the World Health Organization's target for eliminating polio worldwide. Sales for this title by a previously bestselling author should be very brisk. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

April marks the 50th anniversary of the pronouncement that Jonas Salk's polio vaccine was considered safe and effective, which in turn denoted a step toward conquering this devastating disease. Drawing on Salk's personal papers and the March of Dimes archives-along with extensive interviews with Salk's sons and other key players-Kluger (Lost Moon, the basis for the Apollo 13 movie) wonderfully illustrates the complexity of Salk's personality and how his tenacity helped to push forward the concept of a killed vaccine despite a great deal of opposition. Kluger covers many of the same events as Richard Carter's Breakthrough; while Carter had the advantage of interviewing Salk and his colleagues soon after the vaccine became available, Kluger nicely complements the earlier book by providing a fresh look at events based on a historical perspective of the disease's progress and eradication attempts by the World Health Organization. This fascinating read is recommended for all public and undergraduate libraries, including those holding Carter's book.-Tina Neville, Univ. of South Florida at St. Petersburg Lib. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

A mighty medical event occurred half a century ago, when the curse of polio-of youthful paralysis and suffocating death-was conquered. It was then that the vaccine developed by Dr. Salk was pronounced safe and effective and mass inoculations began. There was Jenner in the 18th century, Pasteur in the 19th. Add, for the 20th, Jonas Salk (1914-95). Time writer Kluger (Moon Hunters, 1999) tells the story of the able and ambitious young researcher who launched his battle against the awful illness back when Franklin Roosevelt, most prominent among the disease's many victims, sponsored the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (now the March of Dimes) under the direction of his law partner, Basil O'Connor. O'Connor's name, the palliative treatments of Sister Kenny, or the fearsome contraption, the Iron Lung, may now be largely forgotten-thanks to the efforts of scientists like Salk, who was happily diverted from law or rabbinical studies to City College and NYU Medical School, and then, during WWII, to research on a flu vaccine. Kluger tells the stories of individual victims of polio. He notes the political infighting and describes the establishment of the Pittsburgh lab. He salutes the sacrificial monkeys and mice and recognizes the painstaking task of isolating strains and types of the disease. The science is made accessible, though sometimes it's freely dramatized, as, for example, in the personification of little pathogens. Salk's investigations were devoted to the use of killed virus, to be administered by needle. Albert Sabin, depicted as his everlasting nemesis, promoted the use of live virus, given by sugar cube. (Only recently was the Sabin method fully phased out.) Among thefirst vaccinated: Salk's lab colleagues, his family, and himself. While Kluger does recall the excitement of the announcement 50 years ago, he scants the inventor's life story thereafter. Still, in this unabashedly laudatory history, the story of the achievement is a terrific one. Scientific triumph by a medical hero, described with admiration and lucidity. (Photos, not seen. Agent: Joy Harris/Joy Harris Literary Agency

Kirkus Reviews

Jonas Salk decided early in his life that he wanted to make a significant mark in history. After discovering the joy of chemistry and the challenges of fundamental research, he settled on medicine. During WWII, he was the principal developer of the first effective flu vaccine. After the war, he turned his attention to polio, eventually developing the killed-virus vaccine that now has the world on the edge of eradicating the crippling virus. Jeffrey Kluger’s story captures the drama and personal intrigues of scientific research, showing how jealousy and personal pique sometimes shape what happens and doesn’t happen. Michael Prichard’s clear, steady tone carries the reader, especially through detailed passages about research techniques and chemistry. At times, his voice sounds almost stentorian, but overall he does a good job, with no histrionics. R.C.G. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine

AUG/SEP 05 - AudioFile