Beyond Fiction Book Club - A Shot to Save the World by Gregory Zuckerman * with Author Chat! (In-Person)

A Shot to Save the World - The Inside Story of the Life-or-Death Race for a COVID-19 Vaccine by Gregory Zuckerman

"An inspiring and informative page-turner." (Walter Isaacson)

The authoritative account of the race to produce the vaccines that are saving us all, from the number one New York Times best-selling author of The Man Who Solved the Market.  We are thrilled that the author will be joining us via Zoom.  Books will be available to check out at the Adult Help desk.  If you need help acquiring a book, please reach out to Kelly Kuningas at kkuningas@wauclib.org.  

We look forward to reading and discussing with you!

Few were ready when a mysterious respiratory illness emerged in Wuhan, China, in January 2020. Politicians, government officials, business leaders, and public-health professionals were unprepared for the most devastating pandemic in a century. Many of the world’s biggest drug and vaccine makers were slow to react or couldn’t muster an effective response.

It was up to a small group of unlikely and untested scientists and executives to save civilization. A French businessman dismissed by many as a fabulist. A Turkish immigrant with little virus experience. A quirky Midwesterner obsessed with insect cells. A Boston scientist employing questionable techniques. A British scientist despised by his peers. Far from the limelight, each had spent years developing innovative vaccine approaches. Their work was met with skepticism and scorn. By 2020, these individuals had little proof of progress. Yet they and their colleagues wanted to be the ones to stop the virus holding the world hostage. They scrambled to turn their life’s work into life-saving vaccines in a matter of months, each gunning to make the big breakthrough - and to beat each other for the glory that a vaccine guaranteed.

A number one New York Times best-selling author and award-winning Wall Street Journal investigative journalist lauded for his “bravura storytelling” (Gary Shteyngart) and “first-rate” reporting (The New York Times), Zuckerman takes us inside the top-secret laboratories, corporate clashes, and high-stakes government negotiations that led to effective shots. Deeply reported and endlessly gripping, this is a dazzling, blow-by-blow chronicle of the most consequential scientific breakthrough of our time. It’s a story of courage, genius, and heroism. It’s also a tale of heated rivalries, unbridled ambitions, crippling insecurities, and unexpected drama. A Shot to Save the World is the story of how science saved the world.