In collaboration with the History Book Festival, join us for a talk with Charles Kenny, author of The Plague Cycle: The Unending War Between Humanity and Infectious Disease, an offering of the 2021 virtual History Book Festival.

For four thousand years, the size and vitality of cities, economies, and empires were heavily determined by infection. The cycle of plagues set the tempo of civilizational growth and decline, since common response to the threat was exclusion—quarantining the sick or keeping them out. The unprecedented hygiene and medical revolutions of the past two centuries have allowed humanity to free itself from the hold of epidemic cycles, but climate and population fluctuations and global trade have left us more vulnerable than ever to newly emerging plagues. Greater global cooperation toward sustainable health is urgently required, with millions of lives and trillions of dollars at stake.

Charles Kenny is a writer-researcher at the Center for Global Development who has worked on policy reforms in global health as well as UN peacekeeping and combating international financial corruption. Previously, he spent fifteen years traveling the world as an economist at the World Bank.

We invite you to support the author by purchasing copy of their book from Browseabout Books. Call-in orders are accepted at (302) 226-2665 or you can stop by the store to purchase a copy. For store hours, please visit their website. Each copy purchased comes with a signed bookplate.

NOTE: this meeting is being conducted through Zoom. You MUST REGISTER to receive instructions for joining the meeting.

If you have need assistance with registration or getting your Zoom invitation, please email the History Book Festival.

Basic written instructions for using Zoom may be found here and a brief video tutorial may be found here. Closed captioning is available for this session. Information on enabling closed captioning in Zoom may be found here.