Milton Public Library

American contagions, epidemics and the law from smallpox to COVID-19, John Fabian Witt

Label
American contagions, epidemics and the law from smallpox to COVID-19, John Fabian Witt
Language
eng
resource.accompanyingMatter
technical information on music
Form of composition
not applicable
Format of music
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Literary text for sound recordings
other
Main title
American contagions
Medium
electronic resource
Responsibility statement
John Fabian Witt
Sub title
epidemics and the law from smallpox to COVID-19
Summary
A concise history of how American law has shaped-and been shaped by-the experience of contagion From yellow fever to smallpox to polio to AIDS to COVID-19, epidemics have prompted Americans to make choices and answer questions about their basic values and their laws. In five concise chapters, historian John Fabian Witt traces the legal history of epidemics, showing how infectious disease has both shaped, and been shaped by, the law. Arguing that throughout American history legal approaches to public health have been liberal for some communities and authoritarian for others, Witt shows us how history's answers to the major questions brought up by previous epidemics help shape our answers today: What is the relationship between individual liberty and the common good? What is the role of the federal government, and what is the role of the states? Will long-standing traditions of government and law give way to the social imperatives of an epidemic? Will we let the inequities of our mixed tradition continue?
Target audience
adult
Transposition and arrangement
not applicable
resource.variantTitle
Epidemics and the law from smallpox to COVID-19
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