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Sign up todayGet Well Soon
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Learn moreA witty, irreverent tour of history’s worst plagues―from the Antonine Plague, to leprosy, to polio―and a celebration of the heroes who fought them
In 1518, in a small town in Alsace, Frau Troffea began dancing and didn’t stop. She danced until she was carried away six days later, and soon thirty-four more villagers joined her. Then more. In a month more than 400 people had been stricken by the mysterious dancing plague. In late-nineteenth-century England an eccentric gentleman founded the No Nose Club in his gracious townhome―a social club for those who had lost their noses, and other body parts, to the plague of syphilis for which there was then no cure. And in turn-of-the-century New York, an Irish cook caused two lethal outbreaks of typhoid fever, a case that transformed her into the notorious Typhoid Mary.
Throughout time, humans have been terrified and fascinated by the diseases history and circumstance have dropped on them. Some of their responses to those outbreaks are almost too strange to believe in hindsight. Get Well Soon delivers the gruesome, morbid details of some of the worst plagues we’ve suffered as a species, as well as stories of the heroic figures who selflessly fought to ease the suffering of their fellow man. With her signature mix of in-depth research and storytelling, and not a little dark humor, Jennifer Wright explores history’s most gripping and deadly outbreaks, and ultimately looks at the surprising ways they’ve shaped history and humanity for almost as long as anyone can remember.
Jennifer Wright is the political editor-at-large for HarpersBazaar.com, as well as a regular contributor to the New York Post, reporting on millennial issues. She has written for many publications, including the New York Times, Washington Post, McSweeney’s, the New Yorker, and Glamour.
Gabra Zackman is an actress, author, and narrator who has won several AudioFile Earphones Awards. She was educated at Northwestern University. A classically trained actress, she has appeared in theaters all over the country as well as on film and television.
Reviews
“Leadership, religiosity, power structures, and science collide…Withith Wright’s signature humorous tone, this is a grim but engaging look at some of humanity’s most feared foes.”
“Wright brings a reliably sane and bitingly funny voice to a topic we never realized we wanted to know so much about: historically devastating plagues!”
“It would be all too easy to read this book about devastating diseases with a basso profundo voice of doom…Instead, narrator Gabra Zackman follows the author’s lead and takes a lighter tone. She is especially effective at capturing the author’s use of irony and occasional expressions of incredulity. This makes the narrative flow more easily and keeps listeners engaged.”
“Narrator Gabra Zackman does a wonderful job accentuating the tongue-in-cheek aspects of these riveting accounts and will leave listeners with the impression that some ancient plagues were better handled than modern ones.”
“This well-researched book is a disturbing, hard-to-put-down reminder that Mother Nature can be a fierce adversary.”
“The author’s prose is jaunty, lively, and filled with references to contemporary cultural history, making this work a well-researched page-turner. Readers will get an intense dose of history, written in a not-hard-to-swallow style.”
“Wright…adopts a lighthearted approach…to delivering sociologically oriented descriptions of history’s greatest epidemics…Wright urges readers to heed history’s lessons and to be thankful for vaccines, hygiene, and antibiotics.”
“Wright has done her homework…Wright has covered a lot of medical territory with good information.”
“Jennifer has a rare ability to make history funny, titillating, and relevant…Her passion and enthusiasm jumps off the page and makes…Get Well Soon: History’s Worst Plagues and the Heroes Who Fought Them, a most compelling and important read.”
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