A Deeper Sickness, Margaret Peacock
A Deeper Sickness, Margaret Peacock
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A Deeper Sickness
Journal of America in the Pandemic Year

Author: Margaret Peacock, Erik L. Peterson

Narrator: Raquel Razan

Unabridged: 10 hr 44 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/08/2022


Synopsis

A harrowing chronicle by two leading historians, capturing in real time the events of a year marked by multiple devastations.

When we look back at the year 2020, how can we describe what really happened? In A Deeper Sickness, award-winning historians Margaret Peacock and Erik Peterson set out to preserve what they call the “focused confusion,” and to probe deeper into what they consider the Four Pandemics that converged around the 12 astonishing months of 2020:

   • Disease
   • Disinformation
   • Poverty
   • Violence

Drs. Peacock and Peterson use their interdisciplinary expertise to extend their analysis beyond the viral science, and instead into the social, political, and historical dimensions of this crisis. They consulted with dozens of experts and witnesses from a wide range of fields—from leading epidemiologists and health care workers to leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement, district attorneys, political scientists, philosophers, and more. Their journey revealed a sick country that believed it was well, a violent nation that believed it was peaceful; one that mistook poverty for prosperity and accountability for rebellion.

Organized into the journal-entries along with dozens of archival images, A Deeper Sickness will help readers sift through the chaos and misinformation that characterized those frantic days. It is both an unflinching indictment of a nation that is still reeling and a testament to the power of human resilience and collective memory.

Readers can share their story and become a contributing author by visiting an interactive digital museum, where the authors have preserved dozens of more stories and interviews.

Visit Margaret Peacock and Erik L. Peterson’s digital museum at adhc.lib.ua.edu/pandemicbook/.

About The Author

Dr. Margaret Peacock is a historian of media and propaganda in Russia, the United States, and the Middle East, with graduate degrees in history and information science. She currently teaches at the University of Alabama.Dr. Erik L. Peterson is a historian of science and medicine, with graduate degrees in history, philosophy, and anthropology. He currently teaches at the University of Alabama.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Robin on July 16, 2023

An amazing reliving of 2020. It is hard to believe so much happened. Rather like a year long train wreck.......more

Goodreads review by Randy on June 09, 2022

Reading this book was like re-living 2020, it reminded me of many many things, some mentioned in this book, some not. I'm glad they didn't try to cover too many things (otherwise, the book would have been much longer), but I'll visit the site (deepersickness.com). It's my hope that the experience of......more

Goodreads review by James on February 08, 2023

Outstanding account of the terrible crises in our nation in 2020: racism, Trumpist fascism culminating in Jan 6th 2021, gutting of public health infrastructure for decades prior, and THEN, amidst it all, the COVID pandemic and the criminal mismanagement of it by the Trump "Drink Bleach" administrati......more

Goodreads review by Gretchen on August 12, 2022

I found this book to be very interesting and kind of traumatic too. It brought me right back to 2020 when our world changed so drastically. It was fascinating to see the changes happen day by day. It wasn’t new news but was well written and unbiased.......more

Goodreads review by Thomas on March 16, 2023

DNF, I’m sure this book is good, but I got about 1/3 of the way through it and realized how much I didn’t want to relive 2020.......more


Quotes

“An urgent, timely call for national reckoning.”
Kirkus Reviews

“Presented in a journal format, the book depicts how the pandemic underscored social and economic inequalities at the core of American society.”
Publishers Weekly

“Both an alarm and a timely call to action . . . [A Deeper Sickness] truly announce[s] the arrival of literature with a central goal of helping us understand the psychology of the pandemic as it relates to relationships and dealing with each other.”
NPR