On display in Rose Library and online starting October 2025. Selected by a JMU faculty member with expertise in science and medical writing and the rhetorics of health, wellness, and disability.
Communicating about science and health has always been important, especially around complex public health topics; this is true now more than ever. Explore a variety of books examining the use of language in and around science, health, and vaccines. While we might think of science communication as purely objective, this display highlights the rhetorical (persuasive or meaning-making) nature of communications around science and health. Language and meaning can shift as science and health discourse move from the technical (scientific) realm to the public realm.
Vaccines are both a medical breakthrough that transformed medicine and society, and a powerful example of science and health communication in action. This display includes a special selection of volumes that examine the history of immunization; the challenges of vaccine development; and the controversies, myths, misinformation, and disinformation around vaccines.
Together, the titles in this display provide compelling insight into how science meets society, and why effective communication is crucial to public health.
