"A social science examination of the role of religion in American society in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, including its effects on attitudes and behaviors related to the state, experts, health policy, the First Amendment, cooperation, race, gender, generational differences, institutions, and legal issues"--

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Looming Tower—a riveting thriller and “all-too-convincing chronicle of science, espionage, action and speculation” (The Wall Street Journal). At an internment camp in Indonesia, forty-seven people are pronounced dead with acute hemorrhagic fever. When epidemiologist Henry Parsons travels there on behalf of the World Health Organization to investigate, what he finds will have staggering repercussions. Halfway across the globe, the deputy director of U.S. Homeland Security scrambles to mount a response to the rapidly spreading pandemic leapfrogging around the world, which she believes may be the result of an act of biowarfare. And a rogue experimenter in man-made diseases is preparing his own terrifying solution. As already-fraying global relations begin to snap, the virus slashes across the United States, dismantling institutions and decimating the population. With his own wife and children facing diminishing odds of survival, Henry travels from Indonesia to Saudi Arabia to his home base at the CDC in Atlanta, searching for a cure and for the origins of this seemingly unknowable disease. The End of October is a one-of-a-kind thriller steeped in real-life political and scientific implications, filled with the insight that has been the hallmark of Wright’s acclaimed nonfiction and the full-tilt narrative suspense that only the best fiction can offer.

In An Epidemic of Rumors, Jon D. Lee examines the human response to epidemics through the lens of the 2003 SARS epidemic. Societies usually respond to the eruption of disease by constructing stories, jokes, conspiracy theories, legends, and rumors, but these narratives are often more damaging than the diseases they reference. The information disseminated through them is often inaccurate, incorporating xenophobic explanations of the disease’s origins and questionable medical information about potential cures and treatment. Folklore studies brings important and useful perspectives to understanding cultural responses to the outbreak of disease. Through this etiological study Lee shows the similarities between the narratives of the SARS outbreak and the narratives of other contemporary disease outbreaks like AIDS and the H1N1 virus. His analysis suggests that these disease narratives do not spring up with new outbreaks or diseases but are in continuous circulation and are recycled opportunistically. Lee also explores whether this predictability of vernacular disease narratives presents the opportunity to create counter-narratives released systematically from the government or medical science to stymie the negative effects of the fearful rumors that so often inflame humanity. With potential for practical application to public health and health policy, An Epidemic of Rumors will be of interest to students and scholars of health, medicine, and folklore.

Reveals how the crisis of Zimbabwe's cholera outbreak of 2008-9 had profound implications for political institutions and citizenship.

The bestselling author of The Completion Process offers a blueprint for overcoming loneliness and returning to a place of love, acceptance, and meaningful connection Following in the footsteps of the success of The Completion Process, bestselling author and modern spiritual leader Teal Swan offers an in-depth exploration and understanding of loneliness. Drawing on her extraordinary healing technique, the Connection Process, Teal offers a way to experience connection once again. Loneliness is reaching endemic proportions in our society, reflected by rising suicide rates and increased mental illness. Now, more than ever we need to find a way to connect. Loneliness is a feeling of separation or isolation; it is not necessarily the same as the physical state of being alone. This book is for people who suffer from loneliness, the kind that cannot be solved by simply being around other people. Their aloneness is a deeply embedded pattern that is both negative and painful; it is often fueled by trauma, loss, addiction, grief and a lack of self-esteem and insecurity. In The Anatomy of Loneliness, Teal identifies the three pillars or qualities of loneliness: Separation, Shame and Fear and goes on to share her revolutionary technique; The Connection Process, a form of intuitive journeying, usually involving two people a ‘receiver’ and a ‘journeyer’. Through a series of exercises each person experiences ‘walls’ and ‘blockages’ as they move through the process both participants face their fears learning from these to reach a place of unconditional love and acceptance.

An investigative account of the medical, sexual, and scientific questions surrounding the spread of AIDS across the country.

Well-researched and rich with ghastly details, this third historical fiction novel in the Horrors of History series is based on the great influenza epidemic of 1918. Actual and fictionalized victims and survivors, like the young, heroic Barium and the concerned, wise Doctor Wilmer Krusen, help weave together a gripping account of how Philadelphia coped with the outbreak.