2020
One City, Seven People, and the Year Everything Changed
-
-
5.0 • 2 Ratings
-
-
- $14.99
-
- $14.99
Publisher Description
A meticulously reported, character-driven, unforgettable investigation of a time when nothing was certain and everything was at stake, by the acclaimed sociologist and best-selling author Eric Klinenberg
“A gripping, deeply moving account of a signal year in modern history, told through the stories of seven ordinary people. Klinenberg’s narrative shows how the legacy of that year continues to shape us, our politics and our personal lives.”—Siddhartha Mukherjee, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Emperor of All Maladies • "I can easily see this book being invaluable in the future."—Stuart Miller, Los Angeles Times
2020 will go down alongside 1914, 1929, and 1968 as one of the most consequential years in history. This riveting and affecting book is the first attempt to capture the full human experience of that fateful time.
At the heart of 2020 are seven vivid profiles of ordinary New Yorkers—including an elementary school principal, a bar manager, a subway custodian, and a local political aide—whose experiences illuminate how Americans, and people across the globe, reckoned with 2020. Through these poignant stories, we revisit our own moments of hope and fear, the profound tragedies and losses in our communities, the mutual aid networks that brought us together, and the social movements that hinted at the possibilities of a better world.
Eric Klinenberg vividly captures these stories, casting them against the backdrop of a high-stakes presidential election, a surge of misinformation, rising distrust, and raging protests. We move from the epicenter in New York City to Washington and London, where political leaders made the crisis so much more lethal than it had to be. We bear witness to epidemiological battles in Wuhan and Beijing, along with the initiatives of scientists, citizens, and policy makers in Australia, Japan, and Taiwan, who worked together to save lives.
Klinenberg allows us to see 2020—and, ultimately, ourselves—with unprecedented clarity and empathy. His book not only helps us reckon with what we lived through, but also with the challenges we face before the next crisis arrives.
"A masterful piece of rigorous journalism, rigorous sociology, and incredible story-telling."—Chris Hayes, MSNBC News
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
New York University sociologist Klinenberg (Palaces for the People) revisits in this complex and at times riveting work the tumultuous and traumatic first year of the Covid-19 pandemic in New York City. Presenting powerful personal narratives drawn from in-depth interviews alongside surveys and other studies, Klinenberg captures the year's political upheaval by showcasing a wide variety of individual perspectives, ranging from those who protested George Floyd's murder to those radicalized by the loss of individual liberties in the name of public health. Poignant stories of people caught up in the chaos and uncertainty are the book's greatest strength. Thankachan Mathai, a trained physicist from India who had found work as a janitor with the city's Metropolitan Transit Authority, felt duty-bound to continue working in the very early days of the pandemic and succumbed to the disease in March of 2020. Daniel Presti, another profile subject, was launching a new bar when Covid first emerged; feeling increasingly abandoned by city government, he began to operate the bar in defiance of local health measures. In the volume's latter half, Klinenberg leans more heavily into studies and surveys, somewhat to the detriment of the narrative. Still, readers ready to reflect on 2020 will want to check out this vivid and nuanced account.
