All rights information:
[email protected] Visit our website at www.orbooks.com First printing 2020 Published by OR Books, New York and London © 2020 Mike Davis Published by arrangement with The New Press, New York, NY All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher, except brief passages for review purposes. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. Typeset by Lapiz Digital Services. Printed by Bookmobile, USA, and CPI, UK. paperback ISBN 978-1-68219-303-7• ebook ISBN 978-1-68219-400-3 for Roisin, my light Lo, when the wall is fallen shall it not be said unto you, Where is the daubing wherewith ye have daubed it? Ezekiel (xiii, 3, 10–12) CONTENTS Introduction: The Monster Enters Preface: The Monster at Our Door Chapter 1: The Virulence of Poverty Chapter 2: Birds of Hong Kong Chapter 3: A Messy Story Chapter 4: Pandemic Surprise Chapter 5: The Triangle of Doom Chapter 6: Plague and Profit Chapter 7: Edge of the Abyss Chapter 8: Homeland Insecurity Chapter 9: Structural Contradictions Chapter 10: The Titanic Paradigm Conclusion: Year of the Rooster Notes About the Author INTRODUCTION: THE MONSTER ENTERS I write this in the first week of April 2020, in the eye of the hurricane, so to speak, while bunkered in my garage with innumerable cans of Chef Boyardee, a few pints of Guinness, and some virology textbooks.