Polio across the Iron Curtain: Hungary's Cold War with an Epidemic by Dóra Vargha

Dóra Vargha’s history of Hungary’s fight against polio in the 1950s combines social, cultural, and political history to demonstrate how Cold War politics were central to this story. She also challenges generally held perceptions of the iron curtain as impenetrable and demonstrates, at least in the case of polio, that the border between east and west was much more porous than generally thought. By highlighting contradictions, such as the global acceptance of Hungary’s epidemic control methods at the same time as the Hungarian government was persona non grata in the West, Vargha demonstrates the complicated and paradoxical nature of Hungary’s relationship with western countries at this time.