Thursday, May 19, 2011

What is Michael Willrich reading?

Today's featured contributor at Writers Read: Michael Willrich, author of Pox: An American History.

His entry begins:
I recently read Michael Klarman's marvelous book, Brown v. Board of Education and the Civil Rights Movement. This is an abridged and very accessibly written version of Klarman's Bancroft Prize-winning "door stopper" of a book on the same subject (From Jim Crow to Civil Rights). Klarman is a Harvard Law professor, but he writes this book with a journalistic flair. In the Brown book, Klarman examines one of the best known chapters in modern U.S. history and manages to tell a story that is not only new but immensely revealing about our society, our political system, and our Constitution. I was most struck by...[read on]
Among the early praise for Pox:
"Willrich's account of the early days of the American progressive movement couldn't be more instructive or timely...a worthy read."
--Booklist (starred review)

"Willrich melds meticulous research with elegant writing to create a richly- textured social history...at the charged intersection of science, politics, race, and culture...You'll never think the same way again about the now all-but- mechanical ritual of rolling up your shirtsleeve for a vaccine needle."
--Hampton Sides, author of Hellhound on His Trail

"...In the highly skilled hands of Michael Willrich, hard cases make great history. We all have much to learn from this excellent book."
--David Hackett Fischer, author of Champlain's Dream and Washington's Crossing
Learn more about Pox: An American History at the publisher's website.

Michael Willrich is an associate professor of history at Brandeis University and the author of City of Courts, which won the John H. Dunning Prize awarded by the American Historical Association for the best book on any aspect of U.S. history, and the William Nelson Cromwell Prize awarded by the American Society for Legal History.

Writers Read: Michael Willrich.

--Marshal Zeringue