The Polio Hole

The Story of the Illness that Changed America

by Shelley Fraser Mickle

This memoir is considered to be a definitive work on America’s challenge to end polio epidemics.  Interweaving a personal and sometimes humorous story with the scientific development of the Salk vaccine, this book brings to light the effect of poliovirus epidemics on medical training as well as on research methods, still influenced by the Salk-Sabin vaccine race.  Suitable for adult and young-adult reading, this memoir is also becoming popular in Advanced Placement high school science classes and on required reading lists for medical school students in medical history classes and humanism societies.

ISBN #: 978-1-61584-220-9

Reviews:

“The Polio Hole is a vividly told, heartwarming account of Shelley Fraser Mickle’s childhood battle with the dread scourge of polio, set artfully in counterpoint with the ultimately successful medical search for an effective preventive vaccine. Written with grace and humor, totally free of self-pity, this is a story to cherish and remember.”

Louis D. Rubin, Jr.
literary critic and historian, editor and novelist, author or editor of more than fifty books, recipient of the National Book Critics Circle Lifetime Achievement Award, charter member of The Fellowship of Southern Writers, esteemed figure in American letters for more than four decades.

“Shelley Fraser Mickle’s memoir, entitled The Polio Hole, is a wonderfully, informative narrative reminding us of a time when America was momentarily paralyzed with fear for its children and subsequently mobilized by mothers to defeat the epidemic of polio in America. Beautifully expressed, intertwining Shelley’s personal experience with polio and the race to find a vaccine, The Polio Hole is a must read. Donating a portion of the proceeds from the sales of this book, Shelley joins Rotary International as it works to “close the final inch” to eradicate polio from the face of the earth.”

Tony Domenech,
President, Rotary Club of Gainesville
District 6970

“This story of a determined child’s fight to beat polio’s debilitating breakdown of her body is Shelley’s own. We share the sights and sounds as Shelley reveals her awakening sensitivities to everything from family dynamics to race relations. She weaves into this an account of the scientific and personal competition that occurred between Salk and Sabin as they developed their vaccines to prevent polio. Readers will develop an increased awareness of how the poliovirus affects the body and how vaccines work, as well as an appreciation of how disability can actually become enabling.”

Parker A. Small Jr. MD
Professor Emeritus, University of Florida College of Medicine, Charter Member, National Vaccine Advisory Committee, National Medical School Basic Science Teacher of the Year Awardee

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