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Reviewed by Asher Syed for Readers' Favorite
Covid Wars: America's Struggle Over Public Health and Personal Freedom by Ronald Gruner discusses the U.S. response to the COVID-19 pandemic, beginning with historical precedents like the 1918 Spanish Flu and President Bush's pandemic preparedness efforts in the 2000s. Gruner traces the evolution of virology, from the discovery of viruses by Ivanovsky and Beijerinck to the rapid spread of COVID-19. He details President Trump’s handling of the crisis, Operation Warp Speed, and the mixed messaging that fueled division. People like Dr. Scott W. Atlas, Gavin Newsom, and Dr. Deborah Birx are central to debates over lockdowns and public health mandates. Gruner also talks about vaccine hesitancy, misinformation, and conspiracy theories, and speaks on how state policies, such as those in South Dakota and Vermont, led to varying death rates. Gruner examines the broader social and economic impacts, including unemployment, education disruption, and partisan divides in managing public health measures.
Ronald Gruner’s Covid Wars is a sharp, persuasive analysis of America’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, revealing all that shaped the course of the crisis. Gruner’s writing is authoritative and accessible, and he's able to break some pretty complex topics down so they are straightforward and succinct. For me, given that my wife had a first cousin who died at the age of 22, not from COVID-19, but in a fatal car accident during lockdown, I was most impacted by his look at the phenomenon of "deaths of despair," which is primarily about COVID deaths caused by drug overdoses and suicides, but also vehicular casualties. I thought his critiques of the governmental failures at both the federal and state levels, especially the contrast between Republican states focused on personal freedom and Democratic states prioritizing public health measures, are the most insightful I have come across so far. Overall, Gruner's book is a solid, eye-opening reflection on how the pandemic exposed many of America’s deepest fractures, making it a must-read for anyone seeking to understand the long-lasting impacts of the crisis. Very highly recommended.