IAS Book Launch: The Dread Plague and the Cowkillers

After the Second World War, the Mexican and US governments waged a massive campaign against a devastating livestock plague, aftosa or foot-and-mouth disease. Despite daunting obstacles and entrenched opposition, this campaign successfully eradicated the virus in Mexico, and reshaped policies, institutions, and knowledge around the world. Using untapped sources from local, national, and international archives, this book analyses the forces that shaped the campaign – from presidents to peasants, scientists to journalists, pistoleros to priests, mountains to mules –and explores the formation of the Mexican state, changing ideas of development and security, and the history of human–animal relations. 

Paulo Drinot (UCL, Institute of the Americas) will chair a discussion with Prof Alan Knight (Oxford), Dr Tanya Harmer (LSE), and the author, Dr Thomas Rath.