A scholarly study of China’s pandemic response shows how trying to control information is the worst thing to do in a crisis.
An examination of how a culture that emphasizes stability was ill-prepared for massive disruption.
The global responses to the Covid-19 pandemic will be debated for many years, but this book provides a granular account of how it started. Yang, a senior political scientist and China specialist at the University of Chicago and author of a number of academic books about China, delves deeply into the first months, drawing on the records of the time and his own contacts. He notes that the Chinese government is usually seen as a dictatorial monolith, but in practice, this is not really true. Overlaps and gaps of authority are common at the local level, and framing it all is an obsession with stability. Consequently, when reports of an unusual illness connected to the Huanan Seafood Market began to appear, people were reluctant to sound the alarm. Even when information eventually filtered up to the higher levels of the health authorities, little happened, aside from official censorship. At some point, the infection numbers could no longer be ignored, and when Beijing swung into action, it moved fast, sending medical resources to the affected area and imposing a severe lockdown on Wuhan. The delays and obfuscation led to enormous damage. “No amount of investment, state-of-the-art equipment, or talent can make a difference if the public is kept uninformed and those with knowledge are not allowed to speak up or, if they do, are ignored, or even punished,” concludes Yang. Despite this essential lesson, much of the text will be a difficult read for general readers, with many detours and huge amounts of detail. The author’s careful analysis will be most useful for health professionals and policymakers.
A scholarly study of China’s pandemic response shows how trying to control information is the worst thing to do in a crisis.Pub Date: March 1, 2024
ISBN: 9780197756263
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Oxford Univ.
Review Posted Online: Oct. 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2023
Maher calls out idiocy wherever he sees it, with a comedic delivery that veers between a stiletto and a sledgehammer.
The comedian argues that the arts of moderation and common sense must be reinvigorated.
Some people are born snarky, some become snarky, and some have snarkiness thrust upon them. Judging from this book, Maher—host of HBO’s Real Time program and author of The New New Rules and When You Ride Alone, You Ride With bin Laden—is all three. As a comedian, he has a great deal of leeway to make fun of people in politics, and he often delivers hilarious swipes with a deadpan face. The author describes himself as a traditional liberal, with a disdain for Republicans (especially the MAGA variety) and a belief in free speech and personal freedom. He claims that he has stayed much the same for more than 20 years, while the left, he argues, has marched toward intolerance. He sees an addiction to extremism on both sides of the aisle, which fosters the belief that anyone who disagrees with you must be an enemy to be destroyed. However, Maher has always displayed his own streaks of extremism, and his scorched-earth takedowns eventually become problematic. The author has something nasty to say about everyone, it seems, and the sarcastic tone starts after more than 300 pages. As has been the case throughout his career, Maher is best taken in small doses. The book is worth reading for the author’s often spot-on skewering of inept politicians and celebrities, but it might be advisable to occasionally dip into it rather than read the whole thing in one sitting. Some parts of the text are hilarious, but others are merely insulting. Maher is undeniably talented, but some restraint would have produced a better book.
Maher calls out idiocy wherever he sees it, with a comedic delivery that veers between a stiletto and a sledgehammer.Pub Date: May 21, 2024
ISBN: 9781668051351
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change.
Artist and activist Vaid-Menon demonstrates how the normativity of the gender binary represses creativity and inflicts physical and emotional violence.
The author, whose parents emigrated from India, writes about how enforcement of the gender binary begins before birth and affects people in all stages of life, with people of color being especially vulnerable due to Western conceptions of gender as binary. Gender assignments create a narrative for how a person should behave, what they are allowed to like or wear, and how they express themself. Punishment of nonconformity leads to an inseparable link between gender and shame. Vaid-Menon challenges familiar arguments against gender nonconformity, breaking them down into four categories—dismissal, inconvenience, biology, and the slippery slope (fear of the consequences of acceptance). Headers in bold font create an accessible navigation experience from one analysis to the next. The prose maintains a conversational tone that feels as intimate and vulnerable as talking with a best friend. At the same time, the author's turns of phrase in moments of deep insight ring with precision and poetry. In one reflection, they write, “the most lethal part of the human body is not the fist; it is the eye. What people see and how people see it has everything to do with power.” While this short essay speaks honestly of pain and injustice, it concludes with encouragement and an invitation into a future that celebrates transformation.
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change. (writing prompt) (Nonfiction. 14-adult)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-09465-5
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
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