The germ of laziness : Rockefeller philanthropy and public health in the New South

This book chronicles the formation and five-year history of the Rockefeller Sanitary Commission for the Eradication of Hookworm Disease and its fight against the debilitating parasite, the germ of laziness, that, by the early years of the twentieth century, afflicted nearly 40 percent of our Southern population. The Sanitary Commission was not John D. Rockefellers first philanthropic venture, and certainly not his most ambitious; it was, however, one of his more interesting creations, later becoming the prototype for the Rockefeller Foundations early public health programs around the world. Ettling skillfully places this medical concern in the context of the history of public health and education and against the backdrop of American reform in the progressive years. "The Germ of Laziness" chronicles the formation and five-year history of the Rockefeller Sanitary Commission for the Eradication of Hookworm Disease and its fight against the debilitating parasite, "the germ of laziness", that, by the early years of the twentieth century, afflicted nearly 40 percent of our Southern population. The Sanitary Commission was not John D. Rockefeller's first philanthropic venture, and certainly not his most ambitious; it was, however, one of his more interesting creations, later becoming the prototype for the Rockefeller Foundation's early public health programs around the world. Ettling skillfully places this medical concern in the context of the history of public health and education and against the backdrop of American reform in the progressive years. 10.4159_harvard.9780674333345.fm 10.4159_harvard.9780674333345.prf 10.4159_harvard.9780674333345.toc 10.4159_harvard.9780674333345.c1 10.4159_harvard.9780674333345.c3 10.4159_harvard.9780674333345.c4 10.4159_harvard.9780674333345.c5 10.4159_harvard.9780674333345.c6 10.4159_harvard.9780674333345.c8 10.4159_harvard.9780674333345.c9 10.4159_harvard.9780674333345.c10 10.4159_harvard.9780674333345.c11 10.4159_harvard.9780674333345.c12 10.4159_harvard.9780674333345.c13 10.4159_harvard.9780674333345.c14 10.4159_harvard.9780674333345.c15 10.4159_harvard.9780674333345.c16 John Ettling. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.