Unprepared

With an introduction by Pulitzer Prize-winner Timothy Egan, the riveting, eye-opening first-draft history of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Unpreparedis the sweeping history of the Covid-19 pandemic-a raw, primary-source accounting of the epoch-­defining event: a virus that first appeared in China in late 2019 and spread rapidly across the globe, killing hundreds of thousands, devastating economies, and changing the modern world forever. A day-by-day chronicle of the response to Covid-19 as it attacked,Unpreparedgathers a range of public statements from President Trump and his administration, elected officials such as New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, leading journalists and scientists, and organizations from National Nurses United to the United Food and Commercial Workers union. A haunting portrait of the world scrambling for answers while the number of cases rose alongside the death toll, the book reveals not only our strengths as a people, but also the fault lines and dysfunction that plague our nation in the new millennium.

Unpreparedis an illuminating artifact for today and for future generations, an astonishing document of history being made, and a multifaceted narrative that drops the reader directly into the real-time experience of confusion, drama, and fear that defines the outbreak of Covid-19.

“A riveting chronicle of confusion, alarm, deception and incompetence. Yet this day-by-day account also reminds us of the many moments of heroism and bravery in the face of a pandemic . . .Unpreparedwill call forth flashes of recognition, and like many good detective stories, it keeps you asking, 'Why didn't they see what was coming?'. An essential volume.”–E. J. Dionne, Jr., author of CODE RED

“Unpreparedis the way to step away from the everyday's-the-same pandemic stupor to see how prescient some were of what was to come and how those warnings were squandered. There are a few wise ones in this story, too many cowards and fools and then the rest of us, who have gradually, willingly fostered a political system that failed.”–Bill Bishop, author of THE BIG SORT

“Never have our leaders' words been used to such poignant (and devastating) effect. Powerful and damning.”–former Senate Majority Leader, Tom Daschle, author of CRISIS POINT

“A damning portrait . . . well-conceived and solidly executed, this is a vital record of an ongoing American crisis.”–Publishers Weekly