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The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance Paperback – Unabridged, October 1, 1995
Purchase options and add-ons
The definitive account of epidemics in our time, from the Pulitzer Prize-winning public heath expert Laurie Garrett.
A New York Times notable book
Unpurified drinking water. Improper use of antibiotics. Local warfare. Massive refugee migration. Changing social and environmental conditions around the world have fostered the spread of new and potentially devastating viruses and diseases—HIV, Lassa, Ebola, and others. Laurie Garrett takes you on a fifty-year journey through the world's battles with microbes and examines the worldwide conditions that have culminated in recurrent outbreaks of newly discovered diseases, epidemics of diseases migrating to new areas, and mutated old diseases that are no longer curable. She argues that it is not too late to take action to prevent the further onslaught of viruses and microbes, and offers possible solutions for a healthier future.
- Print length768 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherPenguin (Non-Classics)
- Publication dateOctober 1, 1995
- Grade level12 and up
- Reading age18 years and up
- Dimensions9 x 6.1 x 1.7 inches
- ISBN-109780140250916
- ISBN-13978-0140250916
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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
While the human race battles itself ... the advantage moves to the microbes' court. They are our predators and they will be victorious if we, Homo sapiens, do not learn how to live in a rational global village that affords the microbes few opportunities.
Her picture is not entirely bleak. Epidemics grow when a disease outbreak is amplified--by contaminated water supplies, by shared needles, by recirculated air, by prostitution. And controlling the amplifiers of disease is within our power; it's a matter of money, people, and will. --Mary Ellen Curtin
From Publishers Weekly
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
"Like her role model Rachel Carson, whose 1962 Silent Spring woke up society to environmental poisoning, Garrett aims to dispel social and political complacency about the threat of old, new, and yet-unknown microbial catastrophes in a golbal ecology that links Bujumbura, Bangkok, and Boston more closely than anyone appreciates." Richard A. Knox, The Boston Globe
"Garrett has done a brilliant job of putting scientific work into layman's language, and the scariness of medical melodramas is offset by the excitement of scientific detection." —The New Yorker
"The book is ambitious, but it succeeds...[its] scope is encyclopedic, its mass of detail startling." —The Economist
"Garrett brilliantly develops her theme that repidly increasing dangers are being ignored. Her investigations have taken over a decade to complete, and her findings are meticulously discussed and distilled." — Richard Horton, The New York Review of Books
"Encyclopedic in detail, missionary in zeal, and disturbing in its message...The Coming Plague makes fascinating if troubling reading. It is an important contribution to our awareness of human ecology and the fragility of the relative biological well-being that many of us enjoy. Garrett has mastered an extraordinary amount of detail about the pathology, epidemiology, and human events surrounding dozens of complex diseases. She writes engagingly, carrying her themes as well as the reader's interest from outbreak to outbreak. —The Los Angeles Times Book Review
"Absorbing...the insights into the personalities and the stories behind new infectious diseases are fascinating. I have the greatest admiration for Laurie Garrett." —Abraham Verghese, M.D., author of In the Heartland: A Doctor's Story of a Town and Its People in the Age of AIDS
"A masterpiece of reporting and writing, The Coming Plague is the best and most thorough book on the terrifying emergence of new plagues. The level of detail is amazing, with fascinating portraits of the so-called 'disease cowboys,' the doctors and scientists who fight infectious diseases on the front lines. The Coming Plague is a must read for anyone interested in the biological fate of the human species." —Richard Preston, New York Times-bestselling author of The Hot Zone
About the Author
Product details
- ASIN : 0140250913
- Publisher : Penguin (Non-Classics); Reprint edition (October 1, 1995)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 768 pages
- ISBN-10 : 9780140250916
- ISBN-13 : 978-0140250916
- Reading age : 18 years and up
- Grade level : 12 and up
- Item Weight : 1.75 pounds
- Dimensions : 9 x 6.1 x 1.7 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #934,912 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,065 in American Dramas & Plays
- #4,179 in Biology (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Laurie Garrett is the only writer ever to have been awarded all three of the Big "Ps" of journalism: the Peabody, the Polk, and the Pulitzer.
LATEST BOOK: I HEARD THE SIRENS SCREAM: How Americans Responded to the 9/11 and Anthrax Attacks, available exclusively as an e-book.
WEBSITE: Visit www.lauriegarrett.com
Her journalistic efforts at KPFA-FM radio in northern California garnered the 1977 George Foster Peabody broadcast journalism award, for a series called "Science Story." In 1996 Garrett received the Pulitzer Prize for her coverage of the 1995 Ebola virus epidemic in Kikwit, Zaire. The following year she was awarded the George C. Polk award for a series of more than 30 articles she published in Newsday, documenting the collapse of health and rise of HIV, tuberculosis, diphtheria, and dozens of other diseases in the former Soviet countries. Her second Polk Award was given in recognition of the reporting in BETRAYAL OF TRUST: The Collapse of Global Public Health.
Laurie Garrett was in graduate school studying immunology when she started reporting, as a sideline, on Berkley radio station KPFA-FM. After a year of this hobby, including the co-production of a radio series, "Science Story," Garrett and colleague Adi Gevins were awarded the George Foster Peabody Award for Broadcasting, the highest such honor for radio. Garrett continued working at KPFA, in multiple jobs including management, reporting, documentary production, and disc jockey. She received multiple awards during this period, including the so-called "Major Award" in broadcasting from the Edwin Howard Armstrong Foundation.
In 1979 Garrett spent a year covering a variety of stories overseas, including the SALT-II nuclear disarmament negotiations between the US and USSR, the World Food Summit in Rome, civil war in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), the anti-apartheid activities in the African frontline states, and a long list of outbreaks and disease issues across sub-Saharan Africa. During this period she resided primarily in Lusaka, Zambia, reporting for a variety of news outlets, from Pacifica Radio to the BBC.
From 1980-88 Garrett worked as a Science Correspondent for National Public Radio, based first in San Francisco and then Los Angeles. Her work at NPR, which featured detailed coverage of the unfolding HIV/AIDS epidemic in the US and Africa, was honored with a long list of awards and recognition. Garrett began covering the AIDS epidemic in June 1981, and continuously chronicled the horrible spread of the disease and its toll for more than 20 years.
In mid-1988 Garrett left NPR to join the science writing and foreign desk staffs of Newsday, then the third largest daily newspaper in America. Garrett covered a diverse range of stories all over the world, including: the spread of HIV around Lake Victoria, plague in India, Chernobyl radiation illness in Ukraine, toxic waste in El Salvador, discovery of ancient tombs in the Egyptian desserts, and SARS in Beijing.
In 1996 Garrett was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism for her coverage of the 1995 Ebola virus epidemic in Zaire. In addition to the "three P's of Journalism" Garrett's work at Newsday was honored with four awards from the Overseas Press Club of America, and a long list of recognitions from a variety of professional journalism societies. In 2000 Garrett shared with the New York Times' Larry Altman the first Victor Cohn Award for Medical Science Reporting, from the National Association of Science Writers (NASW). Garrett served as President of NASW for two years while at Newsday.
The EDUCATION
Garrett was born in Los Angeles, a 5th generation Los Angeleno. Garrett is a proud product of public education, having attended public schools and universities in California. She graduated with honors in biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Garrett attended graduate school in the Department of Bacteriology and Immunology at UC Berkeley and did research at Stanford University in the laboratory of Dr. Leonard Herzenberg. Her PhD studies, mentored by Dr. Leon Wofsy, focused on measuring T cell responses to variable stimuli.
Garrett did not complete her PhD studies, as her reporting "hobby" in local radio proved far more compelling. Laurie Garrett never attended a school of journalism, though she served on the faculty of the Schools of Journalism at UC Berkeley (academic year 1997-98) and Columbia University (2001).
In academic year 1992-3 Garrett was a Fellow in the Harvard School of Public Health, where she learned a tremendous amount of health science that continues to guide her work today.
In 1995 Garrett received the University of California Alumni Achievement Award.
In 1998 Laurie Garrett was awarded a PhD by Illinois Wesleyan University, Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa.
In 2002 Garrett was awarded a second PhD from the University of Massachusetts, Lowell: Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa.
In 2007 the University of Minnesota named Laurie Garrett a member of the Delta Omega Society, an honorary public health society.
In 2009 Garrett was awarded a PhD from Georgetown University, Scientiae Doctorum, honoris causa.
In 2011 Laurie Garrett was named one of the "45 Greatest Alumni" of the University of California in Santa Cruz, on the 45th anniversary of the school's creation.
The COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
In 2004 Laurie Garrett left Newsday to join the think tank staff of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. She now runs the Council's Global Health Program, and serves as the Senior Fellow for Global Health. Garrett has written several reports and articles including: HIV and National Security: Where are the Links?, A Council Report (Council on Foreign Relations Press, 2005), 'The Next Pandemic?' (Foreign Affairs, July/August 2005), 'The Lessons of HIV/AIDS' (Foreign Affairs, July/August 2005), 'The Challenge of Global Health' (Foreign Affairs, January/February 2007), The Future of Foreign Assistance Amid Global Economic and Financial Crisis, A Council on Foreign Relations Action Plan (2009),and CastroCare in Crisis (Foreign Affairs July/August 2010).
AND FINALLY (in the first person)
I am an avid urban cyclist, using a 25 year old Specialized Crossroads for commuting and errands, and a custom titanium Merlin road bike for the real rides. I avidly support the greening of NYC, expansion of bike paths and lowering Brooklyn's carbon footprint.
For several years I was a partner with Havens Wines, located in the Napa Valley. The wines were magnificent, and being in the wine biz -- even merely as one of 14 partners --- was loads of fun. Sadly, we sold Havens Wines a few years ago, and the buyers couldn't make a go of it: Havens no longer exists. But I retain great admiration for skilled wine makers, and love of gourmet meals lubricated with fantastic wines and shared with great friends.
For more than 20 years I have been a strong supporter of the arts in New York, especially performances at BAM. As a BAM patron, I attend as many of the Brooklyn Academy of Music concerts, plays, dances and performances as my schedule will allow.
Brooklyn rules.
Customer reviews
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Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the book engaging and informative. They appreciate its thorough research and detailed coverage of diseases, microbes, and their effects on human health and society. The book is described as well-sourced, professional, and timely. However, some readers feel it's too long.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers find the book engaging and well-written. They find it thought-provoking and a must-read for the times. The author holds the reader spellbound with her storytelling skill. Readers appreciate the well-researched and easy-to-understand writing style.
"...She patiently and in great----but easy to understand----detail explains to the ordinary reader what causes epidemics, right down to the proteins on..." Read more
"...Garrett’s writing style is very concise and easy to understand...." Read more
"...Don't be daunted by the 700+ pages of this book. It is a great read and definitely worth the time you will invest in educating yourself about the..." Read more
"...While I found much of the book fascinating and gripping (especially anecdotes about specific researchers fighting specific diseases), the book..." Read more
Customers find the book informative and detailed. They say it's well-researched and provides fascinating history about diseases. The book is a great primer to explain how we got to where we are today. It's written for lay people yet is full of detail.
"...Even written in a rather spare, matter-of-fact style, the book has a tremendous impact, such that reading small amounts every day leaves one's..." Read more
"...epidemics in the remote corners of the world is both absorbing and eye-opening...." Read more
"...Her book is a thorough and well-documented look at how humans have fought against microbial disease -- and perhaps most important, how humans have..." Read more
"...The book is a slow read -for me- as there is so much information, medical knowledge, political information, warfare, famine, rituals, long held..." Read more
Customers find the book's information fascinating. They say it provides detailed details about many epidemics and pandemics. The book outlines the effects and consequences of these diseases and provides a broad overview of epidemiology trends, such as the emergence of Ebola.
"...for the struggles, passion, battles, personalities, and goals of the fight against plagues." Read more
"...It’s one of the most comprehensive books on infectious diseases I have ever seen...." Read more
"...I found the chapters on AIDS and toxic shock syndrome particularly interesting -- and appalling, too, in some respects; for example, Garrett..." Read more
"...I found this comprehensive volume of disease fascinating...." Read more
Customers find the book informative about viruses, bacteria, and epidemiology. They say it's a must-read for those interested in microbes and their effects on human health and society.
"...yet accessible book that provides us with fair warning that microbes affect all of us, especially in an age when one can circumnavigate the globe in..." Read more
"...It has a great deal of information about viruses, all sorts of bacteria, epidemiology, etc...." Read more
"...It also talks about the interactions between humans and microbes and how humans induce their own diseases...." Read more
"...This has caused me to rethink viruses,bacteria, and what it means to have a brain. Great read!" Read more
Customers appreciate the book's sturdiness and quality. They find it well-sourced, balanced, and professional. The book is delivered on time and in perfect condition. Readers appreciate that it's updated and in hard copy form.
"...account, the story the author tells is a balanced and highly professional one...." Read more
"...It is very well sourced and must have required a prodigious amount of research...." Read more
"...like a horror book ,thriller, and informative medical book, but it is real!..." Read more
"This new book arrived quickly and in perfect condition. I would order from this company again...." Read more
Customers find the book timely and well-written. They appreciate the author's detail but also find it easy to understand.
"...She patiently and in great----but easy to understand----detail explains to the ordinary reader what causes epidemics, right down to the proteins on..." Read more
"Although written almost 20 years ago, this book is compelling and timely. Written as a research time it is not an easy read...." Read more
"...Laurie Gannet won Pulitzer Prize Award. It's still a timely book, as is Rachel Carson's Silent Spring. Nothing has changed enough...." Read more
"Most timely." Read more
Customers have mixed views on the historical accuracy of the book. Some find it entertaining and informative, providing a rich account of important historical events. Others find it scary and heavy reading, with information that is over 20 years old.
"...details that crowd the book's pages, but the understated approach forms a backdrop for the struggles, passion, battles, personalities, and goals of..." Read more
"...The stories are amazing!" Read more
"...Amazingly, although the material is sobering and sometimes truly scary, the book is not in the least depressing...." Read more
"...-for me- as there is so much information, medical knowledge, political information, warfare, famine, rituals, long held beliefs, history of the..." Read more
Customers find the book excessively long. They say it's over 600 pages of text before endnotes, and the print is not large.
"...It seems too long, and too detailed, to get wide traction in the general population of readers. But it's not scholarly or academic in nature, either...." Read more
"...It was long and outdated, since numerous advances have been made since the publication of this book...." Read more
"This is a little long, but very absorbing. I really enjoyed the thorough historical details on this subject. I was absorbed and fascinated by it." Read more
"Good book, but overlong." Read more
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Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2011I've read this before as a library book, but the Kindle made it possible to buy this book at long last without having to hold it up. It's a big book.
It's also stunning. Garrett has done her research and relentlessly details the steps toward species jumping and mutation. She patiently and in great----but easy to understand----detail explains to the ordinary reader what causes epidemics, right down to the proteins on a bacteria. It's like reading a mystery that you can't put down, and despite the clinical tone throughout, the author manages to humanize so many of the people who pass through her pages. She describes passionate doctors fighting the emergent AIDS virus in the US, losing sleep over the suffering of their patients, at a time when gay men and women were subjected to incredible prejudice at the highest levels of government, much less society. The doctors and the tragedies they face are vivid personalities in the constant fight, but she sees small details in the far-flung patients that makes it possible for the reader to put themselves in that person's shoes.
Above all, the dates and numbers and conditions and species jumping goes on, some remaining unsolved mysteries to this day. Even written in a rather spare, matter-of-fact style, the book has a tremendous impact, such that reading small amounts every day leaves one's brain crowded with vivid mental images. Dry humor occasionally livens up the grim details that crowd the book's pages, but the understated approach forms a backdrop for the struggles, passion, battles, personalities, and goals of the fight against plagues.
- Reviewed in the United States on October 8, 2021Garrett is a fantastic science writer and I think this is one of her best works. It’s one of the most comprehensive books on infectious diseases I have ever seen.
Garrett’s writing style is very concise and easy to understand. However, I will admit that I had a hard time with some of the material in the book and I worked in an Infectious Disease Clinic for 14 years (although I was co-ordinator of non-medical services). This book has quite a bit of technical information in it that can be difficult at times.
I also want to warn readers that the information can get overwhelming after a bit. Yesterday afternoon, I just sat here and started crying at the state of the world—all the war, poverty, misinformation, lack of medical resources, Thirdworldization, etc. This is the kind of book that you need to step away from sometimes and smell some roses. But it such important information that I felt that I had to finish it.
My only regret is that Ms. Garrett didn’t offer any real hope for our future. I wish she had given some suggestions for how we, as ordinary citizens, could do something, anything, to help save humankind from “The Coming Plague.”
Highly recommend this book for anyone who is fascinated by medicine, science, or history. The stories are amazing!
- Reviewed in the United States on March 31, 2007After finishing this book you will never read a newspaper the same way again. I am amazed, and a little scared, at how much of what Laurie Garrett wrote in 1995 has come to pass in 2007. Her story about the "disease cowboys" who track the causes of unexplained epidemics in the remote corners of the world is both absorbing and eye-opening. And it has helped me to see disturbing trends in current news stories that I would have missed had I not read The Coming Plague.
When it first appeared, I avoided this book because it seemed depressing and alarmist. In the years since I have had occasion to work on some international communications projects and in the process came to be interested in global public health. Once that happened, reading Garrett's book was essential. She is one of the most informed individuals writing on global public health in the US today.
Amazingly, although the material is sobering and sometimes truly scary, the book is not in the least depressing. It often reads like an adventure story. If you like detective puzzles, you'll be drawn into Garrett's tales of Ebola turning up in Reston, Virginia, and Marburg virus being unwittingly spread by do-gooder missionaries in the Congo.
Irony abounds. It turns out that much of the good we thought we were doing in the developing world was exactly the wrong thing. Garrett relates that many development projects and purported medical "advances" served to promote the evolution of drug resistant bacteria and viruses, while also raising wildly unrealistic expectations for the eradication of disease among the public and the medical establishment. The results are the return of diseases we thought were gone for good, such as TB and -- get this -- bubonic plague, and they are even harder to treat this time around because the microbes are resistent to many antibiotics and drug therapies.
Don't be daunted by the 700+ pages of this book. It is a great read and definitely worth the time you will invest in educating yourself about the the impact of human beings and our technological development on the ecology of microbial environments. I recommend The Coming Plague most highly.
Top reviews from other countries
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Jean-paul LacharmeReviewed in France on September 24, 2020
5.0 out of 5 stars Aussi passionant qu'un roman
litt. ‘La peste à venir : nouvelles maladies émergentes dans un monde en déséquilibre’ est un gros essai de la journaliste scientifique d’investigation Laurie Garett publié en 1994.
772 pages dont 1/4 de notes en fin de volume. C’est un travail sérieux et l’auteur maîtrise bien son sujet. Pas de traduction française semble-t-il. L. Garett a été membre du CFR, mais ça n’entache pas son talent. L’ouvrage est passionnant, d’un style légèrement romancé pour lui donner de la fluidité. Il donne un panorama assez complet de toutes les épidémies qui frappent la planète depuis l’après guerre. L’auteur nous emmène en Afrique sur les fronts sanitaires où des médecins courageux ont risqué leur vie pour prélever le sang contaminé des malades et recueillir des milliers d’animaux divers pour rechercher les porteurs des virus mis en cause. Les liens entre les épidémies et la pauvreté, les guerres, les désastres écologiques et les coupes dans les budgets sociaux exécutées au nom de politiques libérales sont détaillés. Les problématiques scientifiques, mutations des virus, résistances aux nouveaux traitements sont bien expliquées. L’idée générale se dégageant de l’ensemble souligne la réalité de la lutte à mort entre les humains et les micro-organismes pathogènes pour la domination de la planète. Si Homo Sapiens ne lutte pas intelligemment, ce n’est pas lui qui gagnera.
- tom olijhoekReviewed in Germany on March 22, 2020
5.0 out of 5 stars The reason for pandemics and why we haven’t seen the last one with SARS Cov2
This is an excellent book that I bought in print many years ago
Because we have lost contact with nature and do not live in balance with it we are destroying natural protection in humans We cannot survive fighting natural threats and we cannot rely on technical solutions We need to change our lifestyle full stop.
- RobReviewed in Canada on September 22, 2014
5.0 out of 5 stars Going for Round two
AMAZING. This book was recommended to me by my favourite undergrad professor. It's an account of the epidemiological investigations that took place over the past century: non-fiction. Laurie Garrett does a great job of capturing the events; including the science and the politics.
I have recommended this to friends.
- InquisioReviewed in the United Kingdom on September 5, 2013
5.0 out of 5 stars Second time round....
It could well be due with a serious update by now, but, having read this book when it was first released back then in the nineties, it carries the same amount of shock tactic that I remember so well. It may well be a trifle deep for some, maybe a trifle out of date today yet, it has a great deal of information that more people should know about. It can be alright to be a metaphorical ostrich, but reality is here and it is not going away. By knowing something about what can kill you so easily may potentially help cut down the risk.
I had to buy this copy because of my original thoughts on the book just would not go away, scary stuff, true stuff all written by noted experts in the various fields. It debunks myths, finds reasons, symptoms, cures or not, all packed in here..... can you tell me anything about Avian Flu, Ebola, Lhassa Fever, HIV and so on, this book will tell you and more, much more... !!
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darwinReviewed in Japan on May 11, 2004
5.0 out of 5 stars 人類,必読の書
Laurie Garrettの大著です.エボラ,ラッサなど致死率の高いウイルス感染症は未だに発生をコントロールできないばかりでなく,自然界でのキャリアーすら分かっていません.加えて,最近では多剤耐性の結核菌やマラリア原虫など感染症のトピックには枚挙の暇がありません.著者に言わせれば,これらの現象は不安定な政治情勢,紛争,貧困などの社会的要因だけでなく自然破壊,環境変化も関連します.しかし,これらの問題点は何も目新しいことではありませんし,他の科学者や社会学者も指摘しています.Garrettの特筆すべき点は,視点をさらに拡大し微生物の環境にまで言及した点です.森林を伐採すれば自然環境は変化しますが,微生物の環境も変化します.何も前人未到の辺地へ足を踏み入れなくても,周りの自然環境を少し変化させるだけで,新たな感染症に出会う可能性があると具体的事例を挙げて警告しています.地球温暖化で洪水が起こり,土砂が海へ流出したり,処理を施さない下水が海や湖へ流れ出るだけで,環境破壊だけでなく人類が今までに出会ったことのない(即ち免疫のない)病原体が出現する可能性があります.人類は食物連鎖の頂点に位置していると言う自惚れに,とんでもない思い違いだと警告を発しています.微生物は,積極的にお互いの遺伝情報を交換して進化しているという事実に戦慄を覚えます.自然を新たな視点から考えさせてくれる1冊です.