The battle against polio by Stephanie True Peters.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 63-67) and index.

Introduction : tragedy and triumph -- From obscurity to epidemic. What is polio? Polio's early history. On the heels of the industrial revolution -- The early years of polio research. Dr. Ivar Wickman. Landsteiner and Popper. Dr. Simon Flexner -- Polio on the rise. New York city epidemic, 1916. Franklin Delano Roosevelt. A bright spot -- Coping with the incurable. The iron lung. Sister Kenny, crusader against polio. Ordinary people, extraordinary lives. -- Vaccine trials--and errors. Brodie and Kolmer. The typing program. The 1952 epidemic -- Salk and Sabin. The Sabin vaccine -- Conclusion: polio today.

Discusses the cause of polio and the infection process, its history and search for a cure, and the course it took in the United States between 1900 and the early 1960s.