No Magic Bullet: A Social History of Venereal Disease in the United States since 1880- 35th Anniversary Edition
From Victorian anxieties about syphilis to the current hysteria over herpes and AIDS, the history of venereal disease in America forces us to examine social attitudes as well as purely medical concerns. In No Magic Bullet, Allan M. Brandt recounts the various medical, military, and public health responses that have arisen over the years—a broad spectrum that ranges from the incarceration of prostitutes during World War I to the establishment of required premarital blood tests.

Brandt demonstrates that Americans' concerns about venereal disease have centered around a set of social and cultural values related to sexuality, gender, ethnicity, and class. At the heart of our efforts to combat these infections, he argues, has been the tendency to view venereal disease as both a punishment for sexual misconduct and an index of social decay. This tension between medical and moral approaches has significantly impeded efforts to develop "magic bullets"—drugs that would rid us of the disease—as well as effective policies for controlling the infections' spread.

In this 35th anniversary edition of No Magic Bullet, Brandt reflects on recent scholarship, the persistence of sexually transmitted diseases, and the trajectory of the HIV epidemic, as they have informed contemporary conceptions of biomedicine and global health.
1137061983
No Magic Bullet: A Social History of Venereal Disease in the United States since 1880- 35th Anniversary Edition
From Victorian anxieties about syphilis to the current hysteria over herpes and AIDS, the history of venereal disease in America forces us to examine social attitudes as well as purely medical concerns. In No Magic Bullet, Allan M. Brandt recounts the various medical, military, and public health responses that have arisen over the years—a broad spectrum that ranges from the incarceration of prostitutes during World War I to the establishment of required premarital blood tests.

Brandt demonstrates that Americans' concerns about venereal disease have centered around a set of social and cultural values related to sexuality, gender, ethnicity, and class. At the heart of our efforts to combat these infections, he argues, has been the tendency to view venereal disease as both a punishment for sexual misconduct and an index of social decay. This tension between medical and moral approaches has significantly impeded efforts to develop "magic bullets"—drugs that would rid us of the disease—as well as effective policies for controlling the infections' spread.

In this 35th anniversary edition of No Magic Bullet, Brandt reflects on recent scholarship, the persistence of sexually transmitted diseases, and the trajectory of the HIV epidemic, as they have informed contemporary conceptions of biomedicine and global health.
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No Magic Bullet: A Social History of Venereal Disease in the United States since 1880- 35th Anniversary Edition

No Magic Bullet: A Social History of Venereal Disease in the United States since 1880- 35th Anniversary Edition

by Allan M. Brandt
No Magic Bullet: A Social History of Venereal Disease in the United States since 1880- 35th Anniversary Edition

No Magic Bullet: A Social History of Venereal Disease in the United States since 1880- 35th Anniversary Edition

by Allan M. Brandt

Paperback(2nd ed.)

$32.99 
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Overview

From Victorian anxieties about syphilis to the current hysteria over herpes and AIDS, the history of venereal disease in America forces us to examine social attitudes as well as purely medical concerns. In No Magic Bullet, Allan M. Brandt recounts the various medical, military, and public health responses that have arisen over the years—a broad spectrum that ranges from the incarceration of prostitutes during World War I to the establishment of required premarital blood tests.

Brandt demonstrates that Americans' concerns about venereal disease have centered around a set of social and cultural values related to sexuality, gender, ethnicity, and class. At the heart of our efforts to combat these infections, he argues, has been the tendency to view venereal disease as both a punishment for sexual misconduct and an index of social decay. This tension between medical and moral approaches has significantly impeded efforts to develop "magic bullets"—drugs that would rid us of the disease—as well as effective policies for controlling the infections' spread.

In this 35th anniversary edition of No Magic Bullet, Brandt reflects on recent scholarship, the persistence of sexually transmitted diseases, and the trajectory of the HIV epidemic, as they have informed contemporary conceptions of biomedicine and global health.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780190863425
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publication date: 07/13/2020
Edition description: 2nd ed.
Pages: 344
Product dimensions: 6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Allan M. Brandt is Amalie Moses Kass Professor of the History of Medicine and Professor of the History of Science at Harvard University. He is the prize-winning author of The Cigarette Century: The Rise, Fall, and Deadly Persistence of the Product that Defined America.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Expanded Edition ix

Preface xi

Introduction: Sex, Disease, and Medicine 1

1 "Damaged Goods": Progressive Medicine and Social Hygiene 6

2 "Fit to Fight": The Commission on Training Camp Activities 58

3 "The Cleanest Army in the World": Venereal Disease and the AEF 110

4 "Shadow on the Land": Thomas Parran and the New Deal 145

5 Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet: Venereal Disease in the Age of Antibiotics 190

6 "Plagues and Peoples": The AIDS Epidemic 220

Afterword to Thirty-Fifth Anniversary Edition 245

Appendix 255

Note on Sources 263

Manuscript Sources 265

Abbreviations 267

Notes 269

Index 321

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