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

A gripping, deeply moving account of a signal year in modern history, told through the stories of seven ordinary people trying to survive at the epicentre of the crisis. Klinenberg's narrative shows how the legacy of that year continues to shape us, our politics and our personal lives -- Siddhartha Mukherjee, author of The Emperor of All Maladies
Elegantly written and well researched . . . filled with impressive detail * Economist *
A sociological investigation of an unforgettable year, 2020 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
By bridging the gaps between individual, community and population, [Klinenberg] shows how pandemics alter society and exacerbate inequality. He follows the threads that connect the individual lived experience to the national phenomenon -- Laura Spinney * New Statesman *
Remarkable . . . full of intriguing insights * Literary Review *
[An] analytical yet moving account of the pandemic * Nature *

Eric Klinenberg is the Helen Gould Shepard Professor in the Social Sciences and director of the Institute for Public Knowledge at New York University. He is the co-author of the bestseller Modern Romance and author of Palaces for the People, Going Solo, Heat Wave and Fighting for Air. He has contributed to the Guardian, New Yorker, New York Times Magazine, Atlantic, Rolling Stone and Wired. He lives in New York City.