The Fever

In this timely and insightful chronicle, journalist Sonia Shah reveals how we've grappled with malaria since ancient times—and how our efforts have fared. In the 19th century, quinine was hailed as a miracle drug; in the 20th, DDT almost wiped out the disease; today, artemisinin has become the new gold standard. But each “cure” has left behind new strains of resistance, becoming part of the very problem it was meant to eradicate. With vast knowledge and striking prose, Shah documents our constant failures and warns against repeating them in fighting other pandemics—like AIDS and Ebola.