When President George W.Bush bared his arm and received a smallpox vaccination in December 2002, it wasn"t about personal health. This was a message to the nation, as our troops prepared to invade Iraq, that we needed to prepare for biological retaliation. Such a political use of vaccination was nothing new, however, as this groundbreaking history makes clear. Political and cultural intrigue have often accompanied vaccination during the three centuries it has been systematically used to prevent infectious diseases - from Cotton Mather"s divisive introduction of smallpox inoculation in colonial Boston to the 9,000 lawsuits recently filed by parents convinced that vaccines caused their children"s autism. "Vaccine" juxtaposes the stories of brilliant scientists with industry"s struggle to produce safe, effective, and profitable vaccines. It focuses on the role of military and medical authority in the introduction of vaccines and looks at why some parents have resisted this...