Get Well Soon: History’s Worst Plagues and the Heroes Who Fought Them

Wright (It Ended Badly) adopts a lighthearted approach—with mixed results—to delivering sociologically oriented descriptions of history’s greatest epidemics, including bubonic plague, smallpox, typhoid, and polio. She expresses sympathy for abused victims of syphilis, who were shunned for having the disease; praises healers such as Father Damien of Molokai, who tended to the residents of Hawaii’s leper colony; and heaps scorn upon those who have viewed the symptoms of particular illnesses, such as tuberculosis, as fashionable. Wright treats generously even misguided attempts to ease suffering, as when she describes such superstitious treatments as the “exploding frog cure” for bubonic plague. But she has harsh words for Woodrow Wilson, who suppressed news about the Spanish flu in service of America’s WWI effort, and is even harsher to those who cause active harm, such as the anti-vaccine activists sabotaging herd immunity. Wright finds that in fighting epidemics, a strong leader matters; communities must choose compassion over stigma and fight the disease instead of people. Recognizing that something devastating could be right around the corner, Wright urges readers to heed history’s lessons and to be thankful for vaccines, hygiene, and antibiotics. Agent: Nicole Tourtelot, DeFiore & Co. (Feb.)