Phantom Plague, Vidya Krishnan
Phantom Plague, Vidya Krishnan
List: $24.99 | Sale: $17.50
Club: $12.49

Phantom Plague
How Tuberculosis Shaped History

Author: Vidya Krishnan

Narrator: Sneha Mathan

Unabridged: 8 hr 53 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: PublicAffairs

Published: 02/01/2022


Synopsis

The definitive social history of tuberculosis, from its origins as a haunting mystery to its modern reemergence that now threatens populations around the world.

It killed novelist George Orwell, Eleanor Roosevelt, and millions of others – rich and poor. Desmond Tutu, Amitabh Bachchan, and Nelson Mandela survived it, just.  For centuries, tuberculosis has ravaged cities and plagued the human body. 

In  Phantom Plague, Vidya Krishnan, traces the history of tuberculosis from the slums of 19th-century New York to modern Mumbai. In a narrative spanning century, Krishnan shows how superstition and folk-remedies, made way for scientific understanding of TB, such that it was controlled and cured in the West. 

The cure was never available to black and brown nations. And the tuberculosis bacillus showed a remarkable ability to adapt – so that at the very moment it could have been extinguished as a threat to humanity, it found a way back, aided by authoritarian government, toxic kindness of philanthropists, science denialism and medical apartheid.

Krishnan’s original reporting paints a granular portrait of the post-antibiotic era as a new, aggressive, drug resistant strain of TB takes over. Phantom Plague is an urgent, riveting and fascinating narrative that deftly exposes the weakest links in our battle against this ancient foe. 

Reviews

Goodreads review by A.M. Flynn-Davis🪐 on February 29, 2024

Some scary history and information. i love medical non-fictions.......more

Goodreads review by Steve on November 24, 2021

I had mixed feelings about this book and if I could, I would rate it 3.5 stars. I feel that the content is important and that it clearly shows existing inequities in healthcare, which would gain it a 5-star rating. While the book focuses on India, its lessons are broadly applicable to the developing......more

Goodreads review by Armita on April 21, 2023

Forget about reading horror fiction- this one is probably scarier than anything Stephen King has ever written.......more

Goodreads review by Ali on June 09, 2023

"Poverty is the disease. TB is the symptom. The global fight against TB will be won, or more likely, lost in India. " Honestly the cover for this book is not doing it any favours - underneath the staid exterior is a lively, high level, engaging social history of TB, not a medical or academic history.......more

Goodreads review by Tony Cundell on March 06, 2022

When I read the statement in the book that Jane Seymour was the mother of Elizabeth Tudor, I questioned the accuracy of the book. When I checked the references and found the vast majority were for websites not books, publications, scientific articles, etc it confirmed that the book had a low level o......more


Quotes

“At a time when the world is paralyzed by a virus that mutates and resists modern medical interventions, Vidya Krishnan’s sobering account of the return of tuberculosis is timely. As she notes, the world is vastly different from lab conditions, and distinctions of wealth, race, class, caste, and inequities and imbalances of power and accountability clash, delaying interventions, denying access, and destroying lives. With lucidity and passion, wisdom and compassion, expertise and curiosity, she demystifies the science, revealing how human frailties and arrogance are letting the disease prevail. That the sickness is not physical, but goes beyond that, suggests how difficult the path ahead is going to be.”—Salil Tripathi, author of Offence: The Hindu Case

“In Phantom Plague, journalist Vidya Krishnan has written an engaging and informative account of the history of TB and other infectious diseases and their impact on humanity. Anyone with an interest in how microbes and politics contribute to inequality and sickness should read this book.”—Johnjoe McFadden, professor of molecular genetics, University of Surrey

“A penetrating social history of a virulent disease… A timely, significant analysis of the dire consequences of public health failures.”—Kirkus, Starred review

“Shot through with tragic and inspiring stories of patients and doctors who have battled against the disease, this is a bracing look at what might be the next public health catastrophe.”—Publishers Weekly