New York Times Bestseller For those who could read between the lines, the censored news out of China was terrifying. But the president insisted there was nothing to worry about. Fortunately, we are still a nation of skeptics. Fortunately, there are those among us who study pandemics and are willing to look unflinchingly at worst-case scenarios. Michael Lewis’s taut and brilliant nonfiction thriller pits a band of medical visionaries against the wall of ignorance that was the official response of the Trump administration to the outbreak of COVID-19. The characters you will meet in these pages are as fascinating as they are unexpected. A thirteen-year-old girl’s science project on transmission of an airborne pathogen develops into a very grown-up model of disease control. A local public-health officer uses her worm’s-eye view to see what the CDC misses, and reveals great truths about American society. A secret team of dissenting doctors, nicknamed the Wolverines, has everything necessary to fight the pandemic: brilliant backgrounds, world-class labs, prior experience with the pandemic scares of bird flu and swine flu…everything, that is, except official permission to implement their work. Michael Lewis is not shy about calling these people heroes for their refusal to follow directives that they know to be based on misinformation and bad science. Even the internet, as crucial as it is to their exchange of ideas, poses a risk to them. They never know for sure who else might be listening in.

マイケル・ルイスは、機能不全のシステムを少数の異端児の目を通して描く名手です。本作はパンデミックの記録に留まらず、官僚主義という病に挑む「ウルヴァリンズ」たちの知性の闘争を描いた傑作です。科学的洞察で未来を予見した者たちの情熱と、警告を拒否する組織の対比は、現代社会の脆さを鋭く射抜いています。 映像版では緊迫した現場が活写されますが、原作の真髄は彼らの「思考のプロセス」にあります。論理の飛躍や沈黙を強いられた内面的な葛藤は、活字でこそ知的な興奮を呼び起こします。映像でドラマを体感し、本で深い洞察を補完する。この相乗効果こそが、真実を追う読者の心を熱く焦がすはずです。