Silicosis: A World History ed. by Paul-Andre Rosental (review)

[...]negotiations over recognition of this medically challenging and incurable disease, arguably the most lethal occupational disease in history, (p. 2) the result of repeated historically specific compromises with significant and consequential geographic and temporal variation. The opening chapter by Gerald Markowitz and David Rosner situates silicosis in the history of colonialism and imperialism, developing several themes that unify the collection—underlying social and scientific assumptions, emerging in part from the rise of bacteriology, that shaped debates over the very existence of silicosis as a distinct disease entity; the production of ignorance about the health effects of silica dust; the striking national specificity of different forms of ignorance; the effects of technological innovation on health of the workers; and the crucial role of physicians and other technical experts in illuminating or obscuring recognition of disease. By focusing exclusively on technical debates over silica exposure in white workers, the authors show that the experts wrote the black majority out of the history of silicosis. [...]by racializing silicosis as a white disease, the scientific understanding, prevention practices, and the most advanced compensation system in the world, ensured that the hazardous conditions of labor for the black majority of workers would remain invisible domestically and internationally.