American Contagions

John Fabian Witt is the Duffy Class of 1960 Professor of Law and History at Yale, where he serves as Head of Davenport College. He is author of the Bancroft Prize–winning Lincoln’s Code: The Laws of War in American History.

“In this brief and readable account, Mr. Witt describes the history of American efforts to prevent pandemics from breaking out and to grapple with them once they do.”—Adam J. White, Wall Street Journal“This thoughtful text asks readers to reflect upon the ways that epidemics reveal the nation’s weaknesses and its inequities, and to learn from a troublesome past so that we might walk toward a progressive future. A timely and accessible history of public health law.”—Erica Dunbar, Rutgers University“Professor Witt’s book is an original and thoughtful contribution to the interdisciplinary study of disease and American law. Although he covers the broad sweep of the American experience of epidemics from Yellow Fever to Covid-19, he is especially timely in his exploration of the legal background to the current disaster of the American response to the coronavirus. A thought-provoking, readable, and important work.”—Frank Snowden, author of Epidemics and Society"With this urgently needed book, John Witt has accomplished the seemingly impossible.  In short order, he has produced a complex, authoritative, and accessible synthetic history of the interrelationship of law, epidemic, and public health regulation in America.  As we again navigate the tortuous crises of pandemic, Witt's long history of the interplay of public safety, state power, legal right, and social exclusion brings a most welcome and necessary perspective and context."—William Novak, author of The People’s Welfare: Law and Regulation in Nineteenth-Century America“In this masterful book, John Fabian Witt knits together history and law to illuminate how deeply the COVID-19 pandemic has divided America, and how public health crises shape law and democracy itself. He guides us through the most consequential choices of our lifetimes, showing us that America can choose equity, compassion, science, and the rule of law.”—Lawrence O. Gostin, Georgetown University“Though caused by mysterious agents invisible to the naked eye, epidemics powerfully reveal the deep structures of power, authority, and inequality in human societies. In this timely, engagingly written, and admirably judicious account, John Fabian Witt vividly narrates the long history of American law’s entanglements with deadly diseases, from colonial times to our own, and offers valuable lessons for the American people in the age of COVID-19.”—Michael Willrich, author of Pox: An American History