Epidemics!

The persistence of epidemics is under constant scrutiny by scholars, medical professionals, politicians, and patients alike. They ask: what makes an epidemic (a sudden increase in a disease in a specific area) stick around? What keeps an epidemic from becoming a pandemic (an epidemic spread across borders and lines)? What makes one epidemic a standard of beauty, while another becomes a marker of poverty or marginalization? Epidemics (their rise, their spread, their connotation and their permanence) are increasingly presented as a product of systemic imperfections and failures, as well as of prevailing societal norms. Both the nonfiction and fiction below offer a window into the epidemic both as an individual affliction and as a commentary on the social conditions in which it thrives.

In Everything Is Tuberculosis, John Green evaluates of the rise and spread of tuberculosis over history, as well as the relentlessness of the disease. Green’s digestible and engaging writing weaves together an account of scientific progressions of tuberculosis treatment with ethnographic reviews of the ways in which a family and medical team from Sierra Leone understand and manage tuberculosis. Ultimately, Green demonstrates that environmental, socioeconomic, racial and pharmaceutical factors have prolonged and proliferated tuberculosis since it first appeared.

Epidemics are not limited to fevers, coughs and physical ailments. In Dopesick, Beth Macy traces the effects that the opioid crisis had on small town Appalachia. Through the historical dispensation of opioids in medical settings, as well as OxyContin’s huge push onto the pharmaceuticals market in 1996, Macy demonstrates the ways in which OxyContin’s ready distribution in medical channels permeated rural communities in Appalachia. She cites court cases and activist work alongside stories told to her directly by families in the affected areas.

A fictional companion to Macy’s acclaimed work of journalism is Appalachian author Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead, a reimagining of the classic fictional exploration of Victorian class politics told in David Copperfield. Demon Copperhead’s lead character, Damon/Demon, experiences life during the opioid crisis as he and his family members fall victim to addiction in Southern Appalachia. Kingsolver’s work of fiction is not simply inspired by Dickens’ narrative about the effects of crushing, inescapable poverty; it is a modern-day demonstration of the permanence of this dynamic over a century and a half.

Let the Record Show by Sarah Schulman records ACT UP’s response to the root systemic issues and politics furthering the spread and persistence of the AIDs epidemic in the 80s and 90s. Schulman is a former member of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) who chronicles the ways in which ACT UP worked to advocate for the medical and social advancement of resources for people with AIDS and their supporters.

Danez Smith is a queer black poet who explores mortality and desire in a world that normalizes violence against black men. In Don't Call Us Dead, they write about the ways in which their experiences with alienation, racism and injustice are interlaced with their HIV+ diagnosis. Smith’s work cannot be reduced to just one theme or story; it is instead an intersectional web of narratives that focuses on the ways in which queer masculinity, physicality, racial discrimination and HIV stigmatization create space for love, loss, fear and resilience.

Finally, an honorable mention in epidemic writing goes to Fever, 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson. Named after the real-life Philadelphia yellow fever outbreak in 1793, Anderson’s novel reimagines the event through the eyes of a young girl named Mattie. The fact that this novel is written for a tween audience should not stop adult readers from checking it out; its well-researched and fast-paced narrative makes for an educational and engaging read for everyone.

Which epidemics are you most curious about?