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

Please join us on Thursday, October 14, at 5 p.m. Eastern, for a 2021 History Book Festival virtual event with Charles Kenny author of The Plague Cycle: The Unending War Between Humanity and Infectious Disease (Simon & Schuster, 2021). This event is free but registration is required.

About the book
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.

How to attend the online event
All registered attendees will receive a follow-up email from “LibCal” with Zoom log-in information. If you don’t receive this email after registering, please check your SPAM folder. If you still can’t locate the email, please contact info@historybookfestival.org.

Purchase the book
Please help support local independent bookstores by purchasing this book at Browseabout Books, official bookseller of the History Book Festival. Online sources and digital versions are tempting; however, supporting local brick and mortar shops helps to preserve our vibrant main streets. Drop by Browseabout, order books online, or call the store at 302-226-2665. You also may purchase a copy at biblion in Lewes. Each copy purchased comes with a signed archival bookplate.

About the Festival
With the help of our presenting sponsors—Delaware Humanities and The Lee Ann Wilkinson Group, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices I Gallo Realty—as well as our community partners and volunteers, the 2021 History Book Festival will, once again, be full of great discussions online with authors of newly published narrative nonfiction and historical fiction.

Our 2021 Festival will follow last year’s format: allowing you to bring history home—and stay safe! We are extremely grateful for the virtual venue and assistance in event promotion provided by the Lewes Public Library, in conjunction with the Delaware Division of Libraries and Sussex County Libraries.