Eula Biss Books
Eula Biss is an American essayist and nonfiction writer known for her incisive explorations of social and cultural themes. Her works often combine personal narrative with critical analysis, addressing topics such as race, motherhood, and public health.
Known for: On Immunity
Books by Eula Biss
On Immunity
In this thought-provoking work, Eula Biss explores the cultural, personal, and philosophical dimensions of vaccination. Drawing on myth, literature, science, and her own experiences as a mother, she examines how fears of contamination and purity shape public discourse around immunity. The book blends essayistic reflection with scientific inquiry, offering a nuanced meditation on trust, community, and the body’s relationship to society.
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Historical context of vaccination
The story of vaccination begins in an age before microbes were known, when smallpox ravaged populations and inoculation was a perilous experiment. In the early eighteenth century, reports filtered into Europe from Africa and the Ottoman Empire describing a strange practice: the deliberate introducti...
From On Immunity
Immunity as metaphor
Before it is biological, immunity is linguistic. The word itself derives from Latin *immunis*, meaning exempt from duty or burden. To be immune, in its original sense, was to stand apart from communal obligations. This etymology reveals something telling about how the concept migrated into medicine ...
From On Immunity
About Eula Biss
Eula Biss is an American essayist and nonfiction writer known for her incisive explorations of social and cultural themes. Her works often combine personal narrative with critical analysis, addressing topics such as race, motherhood, and public health. She teaches writing at Northwestern University.
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Eula Biss is an American essayist and nonfiction writer known for her incisive explorations of social and cultural themes. Her works often combine personal narrative with critical analysis, addressing topics such as race, motherhood, and public health.
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