For those who could read between the lines, the censored news out of
China was terrifying. But the president insisted there was nothing to
worry about.
Fortunately, we are still a nation of skeptics. Fortunately, there are
those among us who study pandemics and are willing to look unflinchingly
at worst-case scenarios. Michael Lewis' taut and brilliant nonfiction
thriller pits a band of medical visionaries against the wall of
ignorance that was the official response of the Trump administration to
the outbreak of COVID-19.
The characters you will meet in this audiobook are as fascinating as
they are unexpected. A 13-year-old girl's science project on
transmission of an airborne pathogen develops into a very grown-up model
of disease control. A local public-health officer uses her worm's-eye
view to see what the CDC misses and reveals great truths about American
society. A secret team of dissenting doctors, nicknamed the Wolverines,
has everything necessary to fight the pandemic: brilliant backgrounds,
world-class labs, prior experience with the pandemic scares of bird flu
and swine flu...everything, that is, except official permission to
implement their work.
Michael Lewis is not shy about calling these people heroes for their
refusal to follow directives that they know to be based on
misinformation and bad science. Even the internet, as crucial as it is
to their exchange of ideas, poses a risk to them. They never know for
sure who else might be listening in.
