Hey, it's NPR's book today. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. So today's book is about the history of

vaccinations, you know, how we as a people have made huge successes against cholera, the black

death, other various creepy crawlies that enter our system and wreck our bodies. But my big

takeaway from this interview is the importance of a good mentor,

of a good friend who knows when and how to call you out and keep you in check.

All right, let me back up. The interview is with Simon Shama about his new book, Foreign

Bodies. And a part of the book covers the life of Waldemar H Halfkeen, who ends up creating the vaccine for cholera.

Sean Mattels and Pierre Scott Simon about how Halfkeen's life could have gone a different way, if not for his teacher.

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Simon Shama opens his latest book, Foreign Bodies, with this reminder.

In the end, all history is natural history.

He tells how humans have contended with mass contagion and death through centuries of plague,

smallpox, cholera, flu leading to COVID,

the blame directed at whole peoples considered outsiders and the distrust of so many of the

...