Fighting the First Wave, Peter Baldwin
Fighting the First Wave, Peter Baldwin
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Fighting the First Wave
Why the Coronavirus Was Tackled So Differently Across the Globe

Author: Peter Baldwin

Narrator: Asa Siegel

Unabridged: 13 hr

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 09/27/2022

Synopsis

COVID-19 is the biggest public health and economic disaster of our time. It has posed the same threat across the globe, yet countries have responded very differently and some have clearly fared much better than others. Peter Baldwin uncovers the reasons why in this definitive account of the global politics of pandemic. He shows that how nations responded depended above all on the political tools available—how firmly could the authorities order citizens' lives and how willingly would they be obeyed? In Asia, nations quarantined the infected and their contacts. In the Americas and Europe they shut down their economies, hoping to squelch the virus's spread. Others, above all Sweden, responded with a light touch, putting their faith in social consensus over coercion. Whether citizens would follow their leaders' requests and how soon they would tire of their demands were crucial to hopes of taming the pandemic.

About Peter Baldwin

Peter Baldwin is professor of history at the University of California, Los Angeles, and Global Distinguished Professor in the Center for European and Mediterranean Studies at NYU. He is the author of The Copyright Wars: Three Centuries of Trans-Atlantic Battle, The Narcissism of Minor Differences: How America and Europe Are Alike, Contagion and the State in Europe, 1830-1930, and Disease and Democracy: The Industrialized World Faces AIDS.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Janet on March 21, 2021

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......more

Goodreads review by Ana on August 25, 2021

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......more

Goodreads review by Cam on March 29, 2021

I want to thank NetGalley, Cambridge University Press and Peter Baldwin for allowing me an Advanced Reader's Copy of this book Being hit by a pandemic is not a one-faced coin only, it has multiple perspectives that in total form the structure of every country. In this book we are presented every aspe......more

Goodreads review by Carol on February 02, 2021

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.......more

Goodreads review by Ann on May 30, 2023

I found this was a fascinating comparative description of different approaches to wrestling with the pandemic. About 25% of the pages are footnotes. There were no right answers. Many of the differences were ideological. A few new words for me. “Dictat”. Will await the next chapter. Perhaps a co-autho......more

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