The History & Future of Tuberculosis

A Review of "Everything is Tuberculosis" by John Green

Star Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
Spoiler-free review

There were a few things from John Green’s The Anthropocene Reviewed that stuck with me—his loner childhood persona, some quotes about what it means to be alive that admittedly made me tear up, and the history of tuberculosis. I knew the word. I’d taken tuberculosis screening tests. ‘Have you visited any prisons recently? No? You’re probably fine.’ But John Green’s apparent hyperfixation on the topic introduced me to a whole new historical perspective.

“It is a strange fact of human history that we tend to focus so little on disease. In my college survey course about the history of humans, I learned of wars and empires and trade routes, but I heard precious little of microbes, even though illness is a defining feature of human life.” (Everything is Tuberculosis, 29)

Everything is Tuberculosis is Green’s more thorough follow-up that analyzes the ways tuberculosis influenced politics, pop culture, beauty, and important historical events (like the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand). It’s also a heavy reflection on the ways culture influenced tuberculosis—white supremacy, classism, and healthcare inequities were weaponized to both halt and further its spread among different communities.

For example, it was first believed among professionals that Black Americans couldn’t get tuberculosis because they simply didn’t possess ‘the right personalities.’ They weren’t seen as creative or intelligent enough to suffer from consumption, also called The White Plague. This prevented them from getting the proper treatment. But once everyone realized TB wasn’t inherited but instead transmitted by germs, suddenly Black people could get TB, and the high rates of TB among Black Americans were spun into an argument in favor, once again, of white superiority.

“The infection has long exploited human biases and blind spots, wriggling its way through the paths injustice creates.” (19)

Green admits, too, to being in the dark about the severity of tuberculosis. To many of us Americans, it’s a disease in the back of our minds at best. But despite there being a cure, millions of people die from TB each year. It’s a solvable problem. Green presents the question: Why aren’t we solving it, then?

The book is brief yet informative. I read it in two weeks (a record for me in adulthood). While the book ends on a hopeful note, it hit markets around the time the Trump Administration cut USAID, and as Green explains in the video below, “Hundreds of thousands of people have seen their treatment interrupted, which we know means a skyrocketing chance of drug-resistance. And we do not want drug-resistant tuberculosis circulating in communities at home or abroad. It’s very dangerous.”

I recommend this book to anyone interested in history, pop culture, or activism. I just hope we can see a turning point in the presence of present-day tuberculosis. And I hope we can see it soon.

Donate or join John Green’s TBFighters campaign: https://tbfighters.org/about