David M. Oshinsky

Dr. Oshinsky is the author of Polio: An American Story, a book released by Oxford University Press. Drawing on newly available papers of Jonas Salk, Albert Sabin, and other key players, Dr. Oshinsky chronicles the nation’s campaign against polio and the race for a cure in the early 1950s when it seemed that all Americans were taking a personal interest in the outcome. Dr. Oshinsky, who specializes in 20th century U.S. political and cultural history, taught for nearly 30 years at Rutgers University before moving to the University of Texas at Austin. He is also the author of A Conspiracy So Immense: The World of Joe McCarthy (1983) and Worse Than Slavery: Parchman Farm and the Ordeal of Jim Crow Justice (1996), both of which won major prizes and were New York Times notable books.