David Rosner and Gerald Markowitz’s
Building the Worlds That Kill Us: Disease, Death, and Inequality in American History 

Join us on November 7 for a panel of distinguished experts who have worked at the intersections of health, history, and politics. This conference celebrates David Rosner and Gerald Markowitz’s new book, Building the Worlds that Kill Us. 

Speakers

Dean Linda Fried, Introductory Remarks

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse Introductory Remarks

David Rosner and Gerald Markowitz, Author Q&A

Participants

Samuel Roberts, Columbia University

Betsy Blackmar, Columbia University

Kavita Sivaramakrishnan, Columbia University

Merlin Chowkwanyun, Columbia University

David Michaels, George Washington University

Valentina Parisi, PhD Candidate, SMS, Mailman School of Public Health

Simon Szreter, Cambridge University

Susan Reverby, Wellesley College

Building the Worlds that Kill Us

Through the lens of death and disease, David Rosner and Gerald Markowitz provide a new way of understanding the history of the United States from the colonial era to the present. Building the Worlds that Kill Us demonstrate that the changing rates and kinds of illnesses reflect social, political, and economic structures and inequalities of race, class, and gender. These deep inequities determine the disparate health experiences of rich and poor, Black and white, men and women, immigrant and native-born, boss and worker, Indigenous and settler. This book underscores that powerful people and institutions have always seen some lives as more valuable than others, and it emphasizes how those who have been most affected by the disparities in rates of disease and death have challenged and changed these systems.