by Sahana C.

Four years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, it still felt a bit too soon for me to sink my teeth into this title, but I’m so glad I persevered. I’m on a mission to read more nonfiction this year, to make myself a more well-rounded reader (who knew that there were just as many genres of nonfiction as there are of fiction?! Mr. Dewey Decimal, I suppose). This was a satisfying, fascinating read to satiate my sci-fi loving heart. It’s a testament, I think, to the ways that fiction can only go so far – the real world always has something more unimaginable, more bizarre to throw at us. 

Jonathan Kennedy made it easy in this absolutely fascinating read. I am no science buff, so some of the more nuanced language about the ways that viruses exist was lost on me. But it was so worthwhile to struggle through some of the more technical descriptions of the bacterial and viral elements to understand the social implications of the plagues, as promised by Kennedy.

The premise this book asserts is that viruses have had a lasting impact on humanity, and beyond, shaping history through the ages. I won’t say that I feel like the world can attribute much of its development and evolution to plagues as Kennedy seems to assert, but I also can never again claim that plagues did not have a major role to play in the evolution of our understandings of race, class, and capital. Beyond the obvious examples of the ways in which architecture and city planning changed after events like the Black Plague and advancements in healthcare, Kennedy also lays out clear paths to explain the ways things like mercantilism and the slave trade emerged and the impact viruses had on them.  

Seeing the world through this public health lens has made me step back and consider all of the other intersections and influences that I might not have clocked as important – but for this fascinating study of the history of the ways we became what we are now through the perspective of viral history. It made the fall-out from our most recent (and ongoing) plague feel less “unprecedented” and more like something that can and will shape us moving forward. It’s not about “returning to normal” and all about looking to the future to see how we evolve, as we move, slowly, forward.  

Pathogenesis is available in print, e-book, and e-audiobook.  

Sahana is an Instructor and Research Specialist at HCLS Savage Branch. They enjoy adding books to their “want to read” list despite having a mountain of books waiting for them already.