David Rosner and Gerald Markowitz's
Building the Worlds That Kill Us: Disease, Death, and Inequality in American History
Join us on November 7 for a panel of distinguished experts who have worked at the intersections of health, history, and politics. This conference celebrates David Rosner and Gerald Markowitz’s new book, Building the Worlds that Kill Us.
Speakers
Dean Linda Fried, Introductory Remarks
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse Introductory Remarks
David Rosner and Gerald Markowitz, Author Q&A
Participants
Samuel Roberts, Columbia University
Betsy Blackmar, Columbia University
Kavita Sivaramakrishnan, Columbia University
Merlin Chowkwanyun, Columbia University
David Michaels, George Washington University
Valentina Parisi, PhD Candidate, SMS, Mailman School of Public Health
Susan Reverby, Wellesley College
Simon Szreter, Cambridge University
Nick Turse, Investigative Journalist
Sarah Vogel, Environmental Defense Fund
Building the Worlds that Kill Us
Through the lens of death and disease, David Rosner and Gerald Markowitz provide a new way of understanding the history of the United States from the colonial era to the present. Building the Worlds that Kill Us demonstrate that the changing rates and kinds of illnesses reflect social, political, and economic structures and inequalities of race, class, and gender. These deep inequities determine the disparate health experiences of rich and poor, Black and white, men and women, immigrant and native-born, boss and worker, Indigenous and settler. This book underscores that powerful people and institutions have always seen some lives as more valuable than others, and it emphasizes how those who have been most affected by the disparities in rates of disease and death have challenged and changed these systems.
