THE PLAGUE YEAR: AMERICA IN THE TIME OF COVID By Lawrence Wright

I know the Pandemic isn’t over and the Delta Variant is running wild (mostly in the South), but I decided to take a walk down Memory Lane with Lawrence Wright and revisit the horrors of 2020.

CHAPTER ONE, “It’s Going to Be Just Fine,” brings back the beginning of the Covid-19 outbreak in China, Europe, and America. Our politicians assured us it was No Big Deal. Lawrence Wright identifies the three opportunities we had to stop the Pandemic. We failed all three times. Three strikes and…600,000+ deaths in the U.S. And growing.

Wright also documents the tragic politicalization of the Pandemic: the fight over masking, social distancing, and following the science. We’re seeing that today as the Delta Variant spreads and people resist vaccination.

If you want a canny history of the Plague Year, Lawrence Wright provides a detailed, well-written guide to a hellish year. I’m so happy we all survived! GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Prologue 3

1 “Its Going to Be Just Fine” 17

2 The Trickster 30

3 Spike 39

4 “An Evolving Situation” 59

5 “Flatten the Curve” 78

6 “It’s Coming to You” 92

7 “Nothing Can Stop What’s Coming” 119

8 The Doom Loop 137

9 “Let It Be March” 154

10 “Its Like a Wind” 165

11 Bellevue 174

12 The No Plan Plan 188

13 Little Africa 212

14 The Mission of Wall Street 222

15 The Man Without a Mask 239

16 Waves 262

17 I Can’t Breathe 270

18 Tulsa 289

19 Thelma and Louise 297

20 The Hedgehog and the Fox 307

21 Dark Shadows 324

22 The Rose Garden Cluster 338

23 The Search for Patient Zero 349

24 Survivors 368

25 Surrender 387

Epilogue 408

Acknowledgments and Notes on Sources 439

Notes 451

Index 511

14 thoughts on “THE PLAGUE YEAR: AMERICA IN THE TIME OF COVID By Lawrence Wright

  1. Deb

    The only thing we know about covid is that each time it mutates, the newer variant is less susceptible to the vaccine than the previous one. Now I’ve been reading about the lambda variant, running amok in Peru, against which the vaccine apparently has no efficacy at all. Sigh. Last Thursday, the school board meeting for the school district where I work and live had hundreds of parents amassed to protest the mask mandate. As I’ve said before, if it weren’t for the real-life consequences, what we’re currently observing on the right would make a fascinating study in psych-ops/mass-brainwashing—but, alas, all of us are living with the consequences of the covid-deniers/anti-maskers/anti-vaxxers and the political opportunists (cough—DeSantis—cough) who exploit them.

    Reply
    1. Jeff Meyerson

      Deb, today’s headlines:

      1. Jazzfest was canceled in New Orleans, originally rescheduled for October 8-17.
      2. A federal court judge ruled that (screw you, Ronnie Boy) DeSantis’s executive order banning Norwegian and other Cruise Lines from demanding their patrons show proof of vaccination – and speaking of that, what happened to free enterprise and private companies being able to do whatever they want? – isn’t worth the paper DeSantis wipes himself on. They rightly called his order political, not health-related as he claimed.

      Reply
    2. george Post author

      Deb, the Delta Variant threatens the all of us (and the Lambda Variant could cause even more havoc!). Western NY infections and hospitalizations are all up. There were more than 100,000 infections nationally. The problem with anti-vaxxers occurs when they spread the virus…and become a breeding ground for more dangerous variants.

      Reply
  2. Michael Padgett

    I’d really like to read this and may eventually force myself to do it, but I really don’t want to relive last year. I’ve long since run out of patience with the Republican Death Cult. Let’s stop trying to talk them into sanity and just let them die while trying to minimize the damage they do to the sane population.

    Reply
    1. george Post author

      Michael, Lawrence Wright captures the essence of the coronavirus Pandemic with all the mis-steps that got us into our present situation. We had opportunities to shut down Covid-19, but we screwed it up each time.

      Reply
  3. patti abbott

    I bought two books about the 1918 flu and was unable to read them so I doubt I could get through this. I admire those who can though.

    Reply
    1. Jeff Meyerson

      Patti, I had the same problem! I waited for months for the library to get in the book, then I couldn’t read it.

      Reply
    2. george Post author

      Patti, Lawrence Wright’s THE PLAGUE YEAR captures the hope and despair of 2020. I find it tragic we had opportunities to stop the Pandemic…but fumbled them away.

      Reply
  4. Jeff Meyerson

    And this sh!t is still going on! I just sent you an email about this clown from Long Island known (not by me, but by some I guess) as “the other Rush Limbaugh” who became a big shot Newsmax commentator, etc. Apparently he was railing against Fauci and telling people not to get a vaccine up till June, when he got the “hoax” COVID himself and changed his tune. Too late, though, as he died at 65.

    I just got a notice from the library that a book on my list came in: NIGHTMARE SCENARIO: INSIDE THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S RESPONSE TO THE PANDEMIC THAT CHANGED HISTORY by Washington Post reporters Yasmeen Abutaleb and Damian Paletta.

    Reply
    1. george Post author

      Jeff, I have NIGHTMARE SCENARIO on order. Not a day goes by now when NPR or CBS or MSNBC doesn’t feature a story of an anti-vaxx denier or Pandemic-denier or anti-masker from their hospital bed finally “seeing the light” and wishing they’d gotten vaccinated. Too little, too late…

      Reply
    2. Wolf

      Read about this guy too – is he a candidate for the Darwin Award?
      Here in Hungary Tucker Carlson just paid a visit (or rather was paid a lot …) to the right wing prime minister Orbán. He also claimed to manage the virus. OK, they didn’t tell people to not get vaccines but offered them the Chinese and Russian ones.
      In the end the number of deaths got so high, around 30 000, which is a lot for a small country – about double what other European countries experienced, similar to the USA.

      Reply
      1. george Post author

        Wolf, Tucker Carlson and the sleaze-bags at FOX NEWS spread malicious mis-information. They lie about the Pandemic and work against vaccines and masks. They have a lot to answer for.

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