Erez Manela

This project is the first critical history of the World Health Organization’s Global Smallpox Eradication Program (GSEP), 1966-77, examining it within its broader historical, political, intellectual, cultural, and institutional contexts. Smallpox, an ancient disease, still caused an estimated 300 million deaths in the twentieth century, and its eradication was therefore a major historical event. The project uses the GSEP to shed new light on the history of the Cold War, postcolonial international relations, the role of international organizations, and globalization. It is based on a wide range of sources, including archives, official publications, professional literature, personal accounts (memoirs and autobiographies), media reports, and oral history.

This project is the first critical history of the World Health Organization’s global Smallpox Eradication Program (SEP), 1965-80, examining it within its broader historical, political, intellectual, cultural, and institutional contexts. Smallpox, an ancient disease, still caused an estimated 300 million deaths in the twentieth century, and its eradication was therefore a major historical event. The project uses the SEP to shed new light on the history of the Cold War, postcolonial international relations, and the role of international organizations in the postwar world. It is based on a wide range of sources, including archives, official publications, professional literature, personal accounts (memoirs, autobiographies), media reports, and oral history.