social

Published 2020

Henry Parsons, who works for the CDC in Atlanta, goes to a conference of health officials in Geneva, where one of the last speakers informs the participants of a ‘hemorrhagic fever that kills forty-seven people in one week and disappears without a trace’. It occurs in a refugee camp in Indonesia called Kongoli Number Two Camp, in the first week of March. Everyone else simply chalks it up as a one off event to be filed away for future reference. Henry begins asking questions and because no one has investigated, he is asked to go for two days, get samples from the camp, and be on his way home.

This begins the pandemic that threatens to end civilization as we know it. The flu is so highly contagious and deadly that there is no treatment and the only possible way to control it is strict containment. Unfortunately, the driver who takes Henry to the camp site in West Java leaves immediately after visiting the camp for Mecca, where millions gather at the Rock to pray and where infection is uncontrollable, especially when the pilgrims leave for their home countries all over the world. Henry’s family, wife Jill, daughter Helen and son Teddy spend some time at Jill’s sister’s farm outside Nashville, avoiding crowds and the cities until the first wave dies down, but then return to their home. Henry is quarantined in Mecca until war breaks out and he makes a run for it with the help of a friend, a doctor there whom he has known for decades, but who is also a member of the royal family.

As civilization breaks down, Henry tries desperately to get home to his family, who are trying to cope with the catastrophe without him.

A gripping tale, and the publishing date is most interesting, since the Pandemic we recently went through had already started. Obviously, Mr. Wright began this book much earlier, but it still resonates with something that could’ve been much worse.

A story of truth and hope in an age of extremism

Published 2008

This book by the journalist Ron Suskind goes into the aftermath of 9/11 and the reasons for going to war in Iraq. Mr. Suskind investigates many of the claims of the Bush administration and the result does not inspire confidence in the former administration’s ability to tell the truth, not only to the American people, but even to themselves. Time and again, the evidence is shown to be faulty or down right wrong and those who speak up are silenced, not permanently, but merely brushed aside or told that ‘that is not what we need to hear’. We all know how it goes these days. Those not towing the line are ‘not team players’, are not cooperative, or ‘difficult to work with’. Suskind tries to bring some hopefulness to the situation by weaving in profiles of two young Muslim men who are living in the United States, and shows how the Americans who come to know them embrace them not as radicals but as human beings, friends and co-workers. One is a teenager who is in the US as an exchange student and the other is working in DC, right across from the White House. Their stories are quite interesting. The younger man, much more representative of his nation, has almost insurmountable issues with the roles of men and women in the US, he is fascinated with pornography. The older one is well educated with a good job and has assimilated to the American way of life but is profiled by White House security, interrogated and later released. Add to all of this the story of one detainee at Gitmo and the lawyer who tries to work on his behalf for his release.

Still, the book sheds a light on how governments twist the truth into a narrative that fits their world view. Which is pretty much what we all do to some extent. In this case though, men and women died, on both sides of the issue, as a result. Looking at where things stand today in the region is a lesson in humility. I would recommend reading when in a fairly positive state of mind because by the end you may find yourself a bit downcast, I know I did.