The Plague Cycle: The Unending War Between Humanity and Infectious Disease (Simon & Schuster, 2021)

For four thousand years, the size and vitality of cities, economies, and empires were heavily determined by infection. The cycle of plagues set the tempo of civilizational growth and decline, since common response to the threat was exclusion—quarantining the sick or keeping them out. The unprecedented hygiene and medical revolutions of the past two centuries have allowed humanity to free itself from the hold of epidemic cycles, but climate and population fluctuations and global trade have left us more vulnerable than ever to newly emerging plagues. Greater global cooperation toward sustainable health is urgently required, with millions of lives and trillions of dollars at stake.

About the author
Charles Kenny is a writer-researcher at the Center for Global Development who has worked on policy reforms in global health as well as UN peacekeeping and combating international financial corruption. Previously, he spent fifteen years traveling the world as an economist at the World Bank.