This is a science history meets cultural history of tuberculosis but really could be used to understand so much about the systems, institutions and structures of disease, and the role poverty, capitalism and racism all play in access, stigma and treatment.
I have only read one or two of John Green’s novels. I think the contrarian in me just resisted reading something so popular, especially when it didn’t even have dragons or fae in it. I know he has done a lot of other things with YouTube and his brother but I was unaware of his work with tuberculosis and other agencies. Personally, I quite appreciate that he used his platform to raise awareness and also to write an engaging read that will reach a much wider audience than anything else (and I have read and enjoyed non fiction books about disease before). He also leaves the reader with a great list of resources to read more and get deeper on any of the threads that he weaves together here – whether it be the history of the disease and treatment or racism in the treatment etc.
It was fascinating how quickly the social view of tuberculosis flipped once the medical cause was found. It went from being called consumption and viewed as something potentially hereditary that was romanticized as causing some ethereal beauty and creativity (look at all the famous artists that had it) and something that Black people couldn’t possibly have to being identified as being infectious and suddenly viewed as dirty and something that Black people were especially susceptible to.
Throughout all that, John uses Henry’s story to center it and explain the challenges of the health systems in many African countries and how vastly unfair and unequal the outcomes and treatments are. Henry is a 17 year old boy when John meets him but mistakes him for a nine year old due to the harsh long term effects of the disease on his body. This book was published in March 2025, so most of it would have been written and set before the election but very much before DOGE and the cuts to USAID. Not that USAID had a huge role in this story but even if they weren’t very involved in TB treatments, I’m sure the cuts had indirect impacts. It’s all so frustrating how wealth inequality plays out, not just individually but at national levels.
