Beginning with the absolutely critical first moments of the outbreak in China, and ending with an epilogue on the vaccine rollout and the unprecedented events between the election of Joseph Biden and his inauguration, Lawrence Wright's The Plague Year surges forward with essential information--and fascinating historical parallels--examining the medical, economic, political, and social ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"This authoritative work provides a thorough overview of the COVID-19 pandemic that swept across the globe in 2020, devoting particular attention to its impact on all aspects of American society"--

" From yellow fever to smallpox to polio to AIDS to COVID-19, epidemics have prompted Americans to make choices and answer questions about their basic values and their laws. In five concise chapters, historian John Fabian Witt traces the legal history of epidemics, showing how infectious disease has both shaped, and been shaped by, the law. Arguing that throughout American history legal approaches to public health have been liberal for some communities...

Presents strategies for dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, discussing how to practice social distancing and protect others, recognize the symptoms of the disease, and what to do in case of infection.