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Vaccines and Bayonets: Fighting Smallpox in Africa amid Tribalism, Terror and the Cold War
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About Vaccines And Bayonets: Fighting Smallpox In Africa
Product Description "At a time when vaccines are front-page news and a deadly pandemic is raging across the globe, Bloeser's memoir makes for riveting reading. . .a captivating family history and a reminder of how public health campaigns are still inextricably intertwined with politics. . ." -- Sasha Polakow-Suransky, Deputy Editor of Foreign Policy magazine ". . .a closely observed memoir. . .historically important. . .most remarkable when it recounts living in tropical, isolated and unfortunate Equatorial Guinea. . . sympathetic, vividly told and useful record of an unusually sombre moment in West African history." -- Adam Roberts, Midwest Correspondent at The Economist ". . . reads like a political thriller, women's history, and African adventure rolled into one. . . . Riveting." -- Pamela Alexander, Pulitzer Prize-nominated author When the world's nations join hands to banish smallpox, the author's husband is posted to West Africa, initially to Nigeria. She eagerly follows him with two young children and wide-eyed ideals. What she finds during their two-year adventure deepens her love for the Africa she encounters, while its tragedies along with tripwires of international service erode her naivete. Later in Equatorial Guinea when attached to America's smallest embassy, her husband must partner with a regime known as "the terror." The people are brutalized, and journalists are banned. The author, one of only two American women in the country, keeps cryptic notes and hides them in a sock drawer, notes now a part of this memoir. About the Author Bee Bloeser has lived and worked in Africa, the Middle East and Native American nations and has supported her husband's public health work around the world. She lives in California. From the Author More from these reviewers: Deputy Editor of Foreign Policy magazine, Sasha Polakow-Suransky: Today, as superpowers trade blame for the spread of a deadly disease and wealthy nations hoard lifesaving vaccine supplies as the rest vie for what remains, Vaccines and Bayonets offers a glimpse of what the U.S. government is capable of achieving when it chooses to lead, rather than retreat, in the face of a global pandemic." The Economist 's Midwest Correspondent and former Bureau Chief Johannesburg and Delhi, Adam Roberts: "Bee Bloeser has written a closely observed and revealing memoir of her family's experience. . . .in a successful fight against smallpox. . . .in [two] newly independent countries. . . .Bloeser's memoir is a reminder that misrule and fear blighted [Equatorial Guinea] from the start of its modern existence." Pulitzer Prize-nominated author, Pamela Alexander: "An alert witness to a breakthrough in world health, she brings insight and humor to a dark tale of disease, corruption and genocide that unfolds around her, her visionary but practical husband, and their two small children. . . .Riveting." From the Inside Flap From the inside flap of the hardcover: With vivid character portrayal and stunning imagery, Bloeser takes us on a journey few have experienced. In this powerful account the Africa she encounters seems to be a character in and of itself. And the story that introduces us to smallpox makes it seem as though it too is a living, breathing character, which is, while shocking, a beautiful piece of writing. Without overwhelming the reader with technical information, Bloeser artfully intersperses facts on smallpox and Africa with details of her own experiences. We find a work masterfully balanced between a disciplined historical account, almost journalistic in its detachment and a personal story, movingly intimate in its telling. .......... A different virus. A different pandemic. In a climate of geopolitical upheaval and Cold War tensions. The author's husband joins an army on the front lines between human and microbe-- a microbe that had plagued humanity over the cent
