China Syndrome: The True Story of the 21st Century's First Great Epidemic - Softcover

Greenfeld, Karl Taro

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0060587237 ISBN 13: 9780060587239

Publisher: Harper Perennial, 2007

Synopsis

When the SARS virus broke out in China in January 2003, Karl Taro Greenfeld was the editor of Time Asia in Hong Kong, just a few miles from the epicenter of the outbreak. After vague, initial reports of terrified Chinese boiling vinegar to “purify” the air, Greenfeld and his staff soon found themselves immersed in the story of a lifetime.

Deftly tracking a mysterious viral killer from the bedside of one of the first victims to China’s overwhelmed hospital wards—from cutting-edge labs where researchers struggle to identify the virus to the war rooms at the World Health Organization headquarters in Geneva—China Syndrome takes readers on a gripping ride that blows through the Chinese government’s effort to cover up the disease . . . and sounds a clarion call warning of a catastrophe to come: a great viral storm potentially more deadly than any respiratory disease since the influenza of 1918.

About this title

About the Author:

Karl Taro Greenfeld is the author of seven previous books, including the novel Triburbia and the acclaimed memoir Boy Alone. His award-winning writing has appeared in Harper's Magazine, The Atlantic, The Paris Review, Best American Short Stories 2009 and 2013, and The PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories 2012. Born in Kobe, Japan, he has lived in Paris, Hong Kong, and Tokyo, and currently lives in Pacific Palisades, California, with his wife, Silka, and their daughters, Esmee and Lola.

From Booklist:

*Starred Review* Former Time Asia editor Greenfeld was in China when evidence of a new flu appeared at the end of 2002 in the southern city Shenzhen, which had grown from a few thousand to seven million in 20 years, so fast that every one of the central government's development plans failed for lack of time to implement it.^B As China was enjoying a tremendous economic boom, accompanied by mass urbanization, during what is called the Era of Wild Flavor, Shenzhen was also on a wild ride. And there was perhaps no better example of the Era of Wild Flavor than the wild-animal markets that provided restaurateurs and adventurous diners with virtually every species from land, sea, and air. Greenfeld, whose magazine and Web site were off-limits to the Chinese populace, watched and reported on the spread of a highly infectious disease even as the Chinese government squelched, concealed, denied--and gave it the time and opportunity to escalate into a major pandemic. Greenfeld offers little hope that the Chinese have learned any lesson, for it's back to business-as-usual for Shenzhen's wild-animal trade, and he ponders the nature and purpose of viruses as he paints a rather gloomy picture of what we and the World Health Organization can expect next. Donna Chavez
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About this edition

• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0060587237
• ISBN 13: 9780060587239
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 464