Renowned sociologist and best-selling author Eric Klinenberg turns a year of devastation into a
year of revelation in this wise deeply researched and cathartic account of the pandemic. 'A
gripping deeply moving account' SIDDHARTHA MUKHERJEE author of The Song of the Cell What
unites us? What divides us? What do we value? Sociologist Eric Klinenberg had been studying
what crises reveal about societies for over two decades when his home of New York became the
deadliest hot spot of the global pandemic. In this book he tells the deeply reported stories of
seven ordinary people trying to survive at the epicentre of the crisis and combines them with
data gathered from around the world to provide unprecedented insights into what societies are
made of why they come together or fall apart and how they shape our lives. 'Compellingly
reveals what the pandemic laid bare about our culture our institutions and ourselves' Matthew
Desmond author of Evicted 'A book that's at once intimate and far-ranging that reveals the
importance of social solidarity and also its fragility' Elizabeth Kolbert author of The Sixth
Extinction
