Have you had enough of this pandemic already?! Over a year of our lives lost or on hold, just like that. People are exhausted, frustrated, and more in this crazy time. But through it all, one thing that's really lacking here is historical context.

Dr. Richard Gunderman is Chancellor's Professor of Radiology, Pediatrics, Medical Education, Philosophy, Liberal Arts, Philanthropy, and Medical Humanities and Health Studies at Indiana University. He is also John A Campbell Professor of Radiology and in 2019-21 serves as Bicentennial Professor.

He is also the author of the new book Contagion: Plagues, Pandemics, and Cures from the Black Death to Covid-19 and Beyond. In the book, Dr. Gunderman offers insight into how pandemics begin, how they spread, and how societies, both ancient and modern, have coped.

Behind every disease is a story, from the natural history of the disease and its course in the individual to the disease’s discovery and eradication. From the impact of tuberculosis on English dynastic history to the makeup of our DNA; from the ravages of the Black Death to the discovery of antibodies; and from the deadliest plagues of the ancient world to twenty-first-century pandemics, transmissible diseases have an incredible variety of tales to tell.