Publication Date

2-16-2026

Abstract

Kim Tolley’s book offers several important contributions to the large literature on vaccine controversies, rich with important new information and a coherent, compelling story. First, the book’s focus is unique: rather than focus on public health (though the book also addresses the public health effects of vaccine decisions and outbreaks, and offers extensive data on that score, too), the book looks at the unique place schools occupy in the struggle around vaccination rates. Because of this focus, Tolley covers issues I have not seen in any other book — such as curriculum coverage of infectious diseases and vaccines, the role of school officials, including school boards and superintendents, in battles around vaccination rates, the role of parents, and the way the government interacts with both education and infectious diseases. Second, the book’s approach is more comprehensive and more interdisciplinary than most books on vaccines. Tolley includes developments in science and public health in the time period covered — early nineteenth-century to present (in the United States), but also an in-depth review of litigation and social activism, and a careful examination of the political context and the different actors struggling. Her story is both topdown — what government did — and bottom-up, what activists, parents and citizens did, and she looks at how these interacted. She also includes careful empirical examination of news coverage of the issues involved and legislation trends.

All of these make the book a valuable addition to the literature on vaccine controversies that covers topics that have not yet been thoroughly examined.

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Historical Studies in Education / Revue d’histoire de l’éducation

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