Description
A paradigm-shifting exploration of the politics of health around the world, by an award-winning scientist
“Zaman’s optimism . . . is welcome. . . . His sense of urgency is irresistible.”
—The Wall Street Journal on Muhammad H. Zaman’s The Biography of Resistance
Since the dawn of germ theory, from cholera to sleeping sickness, syphilis to COVID-19, the history of infectious diseases and related policies has shown us how vulnerable communities have been impacted in the name of research or disease control.
In Infected, award-winning scientist and author Muhammad H. Zaman navigates the exceptionalism of infection and tells the epic story of compromised doctors and administrators, and the heroes who challenged them. It is a tale describing how exclusionary immigration acts, the Tuskegee syphilis study and the Guatemala experiments, the development of biological weapons, the fake vaccination campaign in Pakistan, and the rhetoric around the recent pandemic are all parts of the same deeper story—one of infectious diseases intertwined with power and politics.
This is a story that continues today, in poor nations that have long been impacted by the foreign policies of the rich, and at borders, where asylum seekers are denied necessary medical treatment regardless of who is in power. Melding science and history, Infected presents infection as a key to understanding our recent past, present, and future.
Author Bio
Muhammad H. Zaman is Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor of Biomedical Engineering and International Health at Boston University, where he studies infectious disease dynamics and barriers to healthcare access among at-risk and vulnerable communities. He is also the inaugural director of the Center on Forced Displacement at Boston University. He has worked with communities in refugee camps, shelters, and urban informal settlements in over a dozen countries. He is the author of several books, including We Wait for a Miracle: Healthcare and the Forcibly Displaced, Biography of Resistance: The Epic Battle Between People and Pathogens, and Infected: How Power, Politics, and Privilege Use Science Against the World’s Most Vulnerable (The New Press). He lives in Boston.
Praise
Praise for Infected:
“A captivating, eye-opening exploration. This deserves a wide readership.”
—Publishers Weekly
“The weaponization of infection throughout history is a fascinating, harrowing story with frightening implications for a world still reeling from the COVID pandemic. With brilliance, moral courage, and compassion, Zaman shows us how to change that story now and in the future: through international human solidarity and the core belief that every life matters, everywhere in the world.”
—Jessica Goudeau, the author of We Were Illegal and After the Last Border
“The Hippocratic Oath famously instructs doctors to do no harm. When scientific and medical information are used by governments or individuals against others, however, great harm can and has been done. Mohammad Zaman masterly recounts the sad episodes from the past when medical information has been used to harm and marginalize others and shows us why we should always be vigilant to prevent and counter such misuse.”
—Martin Chalfie, University Professor, Columbia University, and joint winner of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
“Muhammad Zaman reminds us that discoveries alone, even in medicine and health sciences, are insufficient to create a safer, healthier, and a fairer world for all. In an age of misinformation and doubt, this must-read book provides us with a moral compass to navigate our path toward universal human dignity.”
—Catherine Coleman Flowers, author of Waste and Holy Ground
