I couldn't review this book immediately at the time I read it, and unfortunately time just passed after that, blurring my memory of it... thus I can't post an in-depth review. Still, I wanted to at least mention that I found it well-researched and a good read overall, with useful information about the discovery and handling of Covid-19 in various countries throughout the world.

This book really gave different view points on dealing with the pandemic.
It shows how much of a unique situation we were in that everywhere dealt so differently. A very interesting read

I received a free eARC from the author/publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fascinating and thoroughly researched look out the outbreak of COVID-19 and the different responses of governments and health organisations around the world. The writing was easy to read, and the pacing was good. I found that the media focused very much on my own country (Australia), so I only heard bits and pieces about how other countries were handling it (besides the US & NZ). This book allowed me to answer those questions I had about the reality of dealing with a pandemic in other places.

I think this book will appeal to those with an established interest in health, medicine, and disease; but it may be a while before a more general audience chooses to sit down and read it.

From the first whispered rumors of a deadly virus on one side of the world, to the confusion and fear as the word “pandemic” was thrown around, there has been so many different versions and myths of the spread of the coronavirus as well as how it was handled. This book is a very well researched and informative source of how the coronavirus was identified and managed (or depending on your take, mismanaged) in different countries around the world. Let’s face it, the last time anyone has had to deal with, spread information about, and try to contain a contagion of this magnitude was one hundred years ago. I’m thankful to be able to open this book and read all the information presented as to how this happened in almost real time (along with the world of the internet) as compared to the last contagion when information would have been scarce to none and the panic and deaths both greater and more isolating. This non-biased information is presented in a way that anyone with an interest in history (as we are definitely living in the times for history books of the future) as well as science, politics, medicine, and just plain old humanitarianism will be pleased to read. I definitely appreciated the information without the blatant blame game so commonly heard, and it being presented where the reader can factually see how information was disseminated and decisions were made at that time, given the information that was available in that moment.

I truly thank NetGalley, Cambridge University Press, and the author Peter Baldwin for providing me with this informative look at how the first wave of the coronavirus was battled in exchange for my honest opinion.

What a well-researched and informative book! I learned a lot about how other countries reacted to the initial outbreak and subsequent rapid spread of the coronavirus, and I even learned more about what my own country did (or failed to do, as the case may be).

Interesting and thorough. A good review of the beginning of the pandemic and an excellent addition to the historical record.
The ARC I received was a little disorganized which was a little discombobulating.

Lots of good information about the pandemic over the past year. The first year of the Covid 19 pandemic. I learned a few things reading this and I am sure you will too.

If found this book to be repetitive and badly written. While using a lot of big words and high sounding language, the information in the book wasn't new and I gave up reading it before I got to any conclusions, if there were any.