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E-book
Author Caduff, Carlo, author

Title The pandemic perhaps : dramatic events in a public culture of danger / Carlo Caduff
Published Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2015]
©2015

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Description 1 online resource
Contents Introduction : the shape of things to come -- A ferret's sneeze -- On the run -- Casualties of contagion -- Experiments of concern -- A real test -- The great deluge
Summary "In 2005, American experts sent out urgent warnings throughout the country: a devastating flu pandemic was fast approaching. Influenza was a serious disease, not a seasonal nuisance; it could kill millions of people. If urgent steps were not taken immediately, the pandemic could shut down the economy and 'trigger a reaction that will change the world overnight.' The Pandemic Perhaps explores how American experts framed a catastrophe that never occurred. The urgent threat that was presented to the public produced a profound sense of insecurity, prompting a systematic effort to prepare the population for the coming plague. But when that plague did not arrive, the race to avert it carried on. Paradoxically, it was the absence of disease that made preparedness a permanent project. The Pandemic Perhaps tells the story of what happened when nothing really happened. Drawing on fieldwork among scientists and public health professionals in New York City, it's an investigation of how actors and institutions produced a scene of extreme expectation through the circulation of dramatic plague visions. It argues that experts deployed these visions to draw attention to the possibility of a pandemic, frame the disease as a catastrophic event, and make it meaningful to the nation. Today, when we talk about pandemic influenza, we must always say 'perhaps.' What, then, does it mean to engage a disease in the modality of the maybe?"--Provided by publisher
Analysis 21st century pandemics
american government
american health crisis
anthropology
catastrophic event
change the world
coming plague
devastating flu pandemic
forensic medicine
government and government
health care
hopeful stories
human condition
influenza
insecurity
medical
medicine
modality of maybe
national security
new york city
pandemic preparedness
pandemic
plague visions
politics
public health professionals
realistic
retrospective
serious disease
shut down the economy
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Print version record
Subject Influenza -- United States -- Forecasting
Influenza -- Social aspects -- United States
Influenza -- United States -- Prevention
Epidemics -- United States -- Forecasting
Epidemics -- Social aspects -- United States
Epidemics -- United States -- Prevention
MEDICAL -- Forensic Medicine.
MEDICAL -- Preventive Medicine.
MEDICAL -- Public Health.
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Anthropology -- Cultural.
Epidemics -- Forecasting
Epidemics -- Prevention
Epidemics -- Social aspects
Influenza -- Prevention
United States
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9780520959767
0520959760