Pattersons Mosquito Expertise Breeds in New Book

MELBOURNE, FLA. — Dr. Gordon Patterson, Florida Institute of Technology professor of humanities and communication, and the university’s historian, has
written the highly praised The Mosquito Crusades: A History of the American Anti-Mosquito Movement from the Reed commission to the First Earth Day. The
book will be published by Rutgers University Press in April.

Reviewer Bruce F. Eldridge, professor emeritus of entomology at the University of California, Davis, called the book: “An expertly written story of the
origins and development of public mosquito abatement in the United States. I know of no author having a better understanding of the subject.”

Capt. Stanton E. Cope, director of the Armed Forces Pest Management Board, wrote: “This is a singularly impressive work that will appeal to a broad
audience, including scientists, historians, students, mosquito control experts and the general public.”

Patterson has been invited to present the Rutgers University Dean’s Distinguished Lecture in June. His presentation will coincide with National
Mosquito Awareness Week.

“Mosquito control in many respects is a metaphor for the relationship between human beings and their environment,” said Patterson. “It is also a metaphor
for the relationship between human beings and their past.”

Patterson won the 2005 Presidential Book Award of the Florida Historical Society for his first book on the topic, The Mosquito Wars: A History of Mosquito
Control in Florida. He also wrote Florida Institute of Technology, a pictorial history. Patterson is a past chair of the social science section of the
Florida Academy of Science, a former director of the Florida Historical Society and a past Florida Defenders of the Environment Board of Advisers member.