Three-Letter Plague: A Young Man's Journey Through a Great Epidemic

The Invisible Cure: Africa, the West, and the Fight Against AIDS

Helen C. Epstein · 352 pages

"The Invisible Cure will change the way we think about AIDS, a disease without precedent; and it will change the way we think about Africa and Africans, whose insight, wisdom, and care for the stranger will be as crucial as money and medical know-how if they are to overcome this terrible health crisis."--Jacket.

The Wisdom of Whores: Bureaucrats, Brothels, and the Business of AIDS

Elizabeth Pisani · 386 pages

"In this breakneck ride through the red-light districts of East Asia and other hotspots in the flamboyant world of AIDS prevention, writer-scientist Elizabeth Pisani dishes on both friends and enemies in the battles where she has been on the front lines for more than a decade." "Pisani's swashbuckling wit takes no prisoners, as she exposes both those who think AIDS can be prevented by preaching ab

And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic

Randy Shilts · 651 pages

The blueprint of 20th century investigative journalism. Tracing the course of HIV/AIDS through society; from its earliest as then unknown incarnation, to the height of this 1980s hysteria – the death of Rock Hudson: Shilts's book should be in every High School's final academic examinations coursework reading list, as a compulsory item. An unregrettable read.

How to Survive a Plague: The Inside Story of How Citizens and Science Tamed AIDS

David France · 640 pages

"From the creator of and inspired by the seminal documentary of the same name--an Oscar nominee--the definitive history of the successful battle to halt the AIDS epidemic, and the powerful, heroic stories of the gay activists who refused to die without a fight. Intimately reported, this is the story of the men and women who, watching their friends and lovers fall, ignored by public officials, reli

Beating Back the Devil: On the Front Lines with the Disease Detectives of the Epidemic Intelligence Service

Maryn McKenna · 320 pages

In war against diseases, they are the Special Forces. They always keep a bag packed. They seldom have more than twenty-four hours' notice before they are dispatched. The phone calls that tell them to head to the airport, sometimes in the middle of the night, may give them no more information than the country they are traveling to and the epidemic they will tackle when they get there. The universal

The Hot Zone: The Terrifying True Story of the Origins of the Ebola Virus

Richard Preston · 384 pages

This interesting books talks about the author doing an investigation about several viruses in africa, including ebola. He explains the different strains and tells us their stories.

The Medical Detectives

Berton Roueche · 432 pages

The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance

Laurie Garrett · 750 pages

This is an amazing book that Laura Garrett wrote back in the 90's. For anyone that has read the more popular book by Richard Preston "The Hot Zone" this is a must read. It is a much tighter more informative book. She takes us through the history of viruses in a journalistic/story approach. She breaks down the emergence of Ebola and the other emerging viruses and what it could mean in a brilliantl

Flu: The Story Of The Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus that Caused It

Gina Kolata · 338 pages

The fascinating, true story of the world's deadliest disease. In 1918, the Great Flu Epidemic felled the young and healthy virtually overnight. An estimated forty million people died as the epidemic raged. Children were left orphaned and families were devastated. As many American soldiers were killed by the 1918 flu as were killed in battle during World War I. And no area of the globe was safe. Es

The American Plague

Molly Caldwell Crosby · 320 pages

In this account, a journalist traces the course of yellow fever, stopping in 1878 Memphis to "vividly [evoke] the Faulkner-meets-'Dawn of the Dead' horrors,"*-and moving on to today's strain of the killer virus.Over the course of history, yellow fever has paralyzed governments, halted commerce, quarantined cities, moved the U.S. capital, and altered the outcome of wars. During a single summer in M

Infections and Inequalities: The Modern Plagues, Updated with a New Preface

Paul Farmer · 421 pages

Paul Farmer has battled AIDS in rural Haiti and deadly strains of drug-resistant tuberculosis in the slums of Peru. A physician-anthropologist with more than fifteen years in the field, Farmer writes from the front lines of the war against these modern plagues and shows why, even more than those of history, they target the poor. What is it like to be a doctor to the poor, observing with an anthrop

Pandemic: Tracking Contagions, from Cholera to Ebola and Beyond

Sonia Shah · 288 pages

Scientists agree that a pathogen is likely to cause a global pandemic in the near future. But which one? And how? Over the past fifty years, more than three hundred infectious diseases have either newly emerged or reemerged. Ninety percent of epidemiologists expect that one of them will cause a deadly pandemic sometime in the next two generations. It could be Ebola, avian flu, a drug-resistant sup

28: Stories of AIDS in Africa

Stephanie Nolen · 384 pages

Twenty-eight anecdotal stories that chronicle men, women, and children involved in every aspect of the African AIDS crisis.

Sick: The Untold Story of America's Health Care Crisis---and the People Who Pay the Price

Jonathan Cohn · 302 pages

America's health care system is unraveling. Every day, millions of hard-working people struggle to find affordable medical treatment for themselves and their families—unable to pay for prescription drugs and regular checkups, let alone hospital visits. Some of these people end up losing money. Others end up losing something even more valuable: their health or even their lives. In this powerful wor

Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World

Tracy Kidder · 332 pages

At the center of Mountains Beyond Mountains stands Paul Farmer. Doctor, Harvard professor, renowned infectious-disease specialist, anthropologist, the recipient of a MacArthur "genius" grant, world-class Robin Hood, Farmer was brought up in a bus and on a boat, and in medical school found his life’s calling: to diagnose and cure infectious diseases and to bring the lifesaving tools of modern medic

The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race

Walter Isaacson · 560 pages

A scientific biography of Jennifer Doudna, a founder and co-developer of the CRISPR gene-editing mechanism, and an examination of what happened after CRISPR hit the marketplace.

A Planet of Viruses

Carl Zimmer · 122 pages

The Panic Virus: A True Story of Medicine, Science, and Fear

Seth Mnookin · 429 pages

A searing account of how vaccine opponents have used the media to spread their message of panic, despite no scientific evidence to support them. In this searching exposé, the recent hysteria over childhood vaccinations and their alleged link to autism becomes a cautionary tale of bad science amplified by media sensationalism.

No Time to Lose: A Life in Pursuit of Deadly Viruses

Peter Piot · 387 pages

A microbiologist describes his adventure-filled career, discussing his time spent in Central Africa in the 1970s identifying the Ebola virus and his work there again in the 1980s as part of the area's first international AIDS efforts.

The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic - and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World

Steven Johnson · 299 pages

A thrilling historical account of the worst cholera outbreak in Victorian London-and a brilliant exploration of how Dr. John Snow's solution revolutionized the way we think about disease, cities, science, and the modern world.From the dynamic thinker routinely compared to Malcolm Gladwell, E. O. Wilson, and James Gleick, The Ghost Map is a riveting page-turner with a real-life historical hero that

Biological War: A Scenario

Annie Jacobsen · 406 pages

The Remedy: Robert Koch, Arthur Conan Doyle, and the Quest to Cure Tuberculosis

Thomas Goetz · 298 pages

"The riveting history of tuberculosis, the world's most lethal disease, the two men whose lives it tragically intertwined, and the birth of medical science. In 1875, tuberculosis was the deadliest disease in the world, accountable for a third of all deaths. A diagnosis of TB-often called consumption-was a death sentence. Then, in triumph of medical science, a German doctor named Robert Koch deploy

Love is the Cure: On Life, Loss, and the End of AIDS

Elton John · 256 pages

Elton's personal account of his life during the AIDS epidemic, including stories of his close friendships with Ryan White, Freddie Mercury, Princess Diana, Elizabeth Taylor, and others, and the story of the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

Virus X: Tracking the New Killer Plagues

Frank Ryan · 448 pages

Dr. Frank Ryan takes us into the "hot zones" of today's most dangerous outbreaks, then into the research laboratories and hospitals, where he spotlights the scientists and doctors who are risking their lives to contain them. In telling this global story, he uncovers a frightening pattern - and concludes that new, deadlier diseases are even now waiting to emerge. Why do such plagues arise? Where do