THE PANDEMIC CENTURY

A Financial Times Best Book of the Year The most timely and informative history book you will read this year tracing a century of pandemics with a new chapter on COVID 19 Ever since the 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic scientists have dreamed of preventing catastrophic outbreaks of infectious disease Yet despite a century of medical progress viral and bacterial disasters continue to take us by surprise inciting panic and dominating news cycles From the Spanish flu and the 1924 outbreak of pneumonic plague in Los Angeles to the 1930 parrot fever pandemic and the more recent SARS Ebola Zika and now COVID 19 epidemics the last 100 years have been marked by a succession of unanticipated pandemic alarms In The Pandemic Century Mark Honigsbaum chronicles 100 years of history in 10 outbreaks Bringing us right up to date with a new chapter on COVID 19 this fast paced critically acclaimed book combines science history medical sociology and thrilling front line reportage to deliver the story of our times As we meet dedicated disease detectives obstructive public health officials and gifted scientists often blinded by their own expertise we come face to face with the brilliance and medical hubris shaping both the frontier of science and the future