For a recent review in Twentieth-Century Literature, James Berger discusses Preexisting Conditions: Recounting the Plague by Samuel Weber. Click here to learn more about the book. Click here to read the review or see the button to the left. An excerpt appears below:

“Fatal pandemics are medical and social crises. But they are also crises of understanding. Incurable, unpreventable, such diseases challenge any society’s philosophical, theological, and quotidian foundations and some of our profoundest literature has been written in response. Weber’s new book, Preexisting Conditions: Recounting the Plague, immerses readers in this literature. As we emerge from the Covid pandemic—our emotional, economic, and ideological stability still badly damaged (and the future of our public health deeply uncertain)—this erudite, challenging book seems essential for our historical moment.”