As the remnants of humanity cling to life on isolated mountain peaks around the world after a nanotech virus ravages the Earth, nanotech researcher Ruth Goldman develops a vaccine to inoculate the survivors against the plague, but the government will stop at nothing to keep it for itself. Original.

Winter 2001

Book 2 in the Dark Imperium series. In the void and upon the worlds of Greater Ultramar, the battle for the Imperium continues. Intent on rebuilding his home realm and using it as a base to reconstruct the ravaged stellar empire of mankind, the returned primarch Roboute Guilliman proceeds with his war to drive Mortarion and his Death Guard Traitor Legion from the domain of the Ultramarines. But when Guilliman brings his brother to battle upon the diseased plains of Parmenio, the intervention of a greater power in their fraternal struggle threatens to upend the Imperial Regent’s understanding of the galaxy, and his place within it. Primarchs and ideologies clash in this second, thrilling part of the Dark Imperium trilogy.

A vivid, sweeping, and “fact-filled” (Booklist, starred review) history of mankind’s battles with infectious disease that “contextualizes the COVID-19 pandemic” (Publishers Weekly)—for readers of the #1 New York Times bestsellers Yuval Harari’s Sapiens and John Barry’s The Great Influenza. For four thousand years, the size and vitality of cities, economies, and empires were heavily determined by infection. Striking humanity in waves, the cycle of plagues set the tempo of civilizational growth and decline, since common response to the threat was exclusion—quarantining the sick or keeping them out. But the unprecedented hygiene and medical revolutions of the past two centuries have allowed humanity to free itself from the hold of epidemic cycles—resulting in an urbanized, globalized, and unimaginably wealthy world. However, our development has lately become precarious. Climate and population fluctuations and factors such as global trade have left us more vulnerable than ever to newly emerging plagues. Greater global cooperation toward sustainable health is urgently required—such as the international efforts to manufacture and distribute a COVID-19 vaccine—with millions of lives and trillions of dollars at stake. “A timely, lucid look at the role of pandemics in history” (Kirkus Reviews), The Plague Cycle reveals the relationship between civilization, globalization, prosperity, and infectious disease over the past five millennia. It harnesses history, economics, and public health, and charts humanity’s remarkable progress, providing a fascinating and astute look at the cyclical nature of infectious disease.

Researcher Ruth Goldman has developed a vaccine with the potential to inoculate the world’s survivors against the nanotech plague that devastated humanity. But the fractured U.S. government will stop at nothing to keep it for themselves. Read Jeff Carlson's blogs and other content on the Penguin Community.

The Plague Wars began in 2084 due to the Climate Crisis which caused many diseases to spring up worldwide. The World Federation (WF) sent Peacekeeper troops to hot spots around the world to try and reduce tensions among fighting countries. The United Americas Continent (UAC) sent soldiers from Fort Leonard Wood (FLW) to India to prevent the Chinese from forcing India to join the Eurasia Federation under the control of the autocratic leader, Premier Tung Wing. Colonel Luis Martin served with soldiers under General Bradley Clark from FLW in the disputed Ladakh Region in northern India. The Chinese Army invaded India from the north forcing the Indian Armed Forces and the WF Peacekeeper troops to retreat after a fierce battle as they tried to prevent the capital city, New Delhi, from falling into Chinese hands. Colonel Martin was tasked with a mission to rescue the UAC Ambassador and the WF Director-General Envoy in New Delhi from capture by the Chinese and take them to the nearest military base in Jaipur to return home. It didn’t take long for the Chinese to find them and attack. In the UAC, conditions have not gotten any better since Colonel Martin and the soldiers from FLW left to fight overseas two years ago. The Climate Crisis continued to worsen even faster than predicted. Humans were still facing extinction unless President Ricardo Carlos could implement the solutions he promised to save humanity and the world. UTOPIAS -The Plague Wars is a prequel story in the UTOPIAS Dystopian Series. It sets the stage for the beginning of Book Zero which explains in realistic and explicable detail how Climate Crisis began and what it will take to reverse the environmental damage caused by dependence on fossil fuels leading to mankind’s Sixth Mass Extinction Level Event. UTOPIAS - Books 1 & 2 continue the story when President Carlos and others wake up in 2199 after sleeping for one hundred years. The world has changed, but the future with androids and rightwing militia groups is still unpredictable.

View our feature on Jeff Carlson’s Plague Zone. After surviving the machine plague and the world war that followed, nanotech researcher Ruth Goldman and ex-army ranger Cam Najarro discovered that a new contagion is about to be unleashed. Read Jeff Carlson's blogs and other content on the Penguin Community.

Unlock the more straightforward side of The Plague with this concise and insightful summary and analysis! This engaging summary presents an analysis of The Plague by Albert Camus, an existentialist classic in which he continues to question the absurdity of life and applies the notion of rebellion. It is the story of a plague epidemic in the city of Oran in the 1940’s and tells of the individual destinies of some of its inhabitants, who all react to the situation in a different way. The novel is believed to be based on the cholera epidemic that killed a large portion of Oran's population, or perhaps even the plague of the 16th and 17th centuries. Camus was a French author who was known for his thought-provoking novels and essays that often discussed fate, religion and philosophy, and he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1957 for his incredible works. Find out everything you need to know about The Plague in a fraction of the time! This in-depth and informative reading guide brings you: • A complete plot summary • Character studies • Key themes and symbols • Questions for further reflection Why choose BrightSummaries.com? Available in print and digital format, our publications are designed to accompany you in your reading journey. The clear and concise style makes for easy understanding, providing the perfect opportunity to improve your literary knowledge in no time. See the very best of literature in a whole new light with BrightSummaries.com!

“Randy Shilts and Laurie Garrett told the story of the HIV/AIDS epidemic through the late 1980s and the early 1990s, respectively. Now journalist-historian-activist Emily Bass tells the story of US engagement in HIV/AIDS control in sub-Saharan Africa. There is far to go on the path, but Bass tells us how far we’ve come.” —Sten H. Vermund, professor and dean, Yale School of Public Health With his 2003 announcement of a program known as PEPFAR, George W. Bush launched an astonishingly successful American war against a global pandemic. PEPFAR played a key role in slashing HIV cases and AIDS deaths in sub-Saharan Africa, leading to the brink of epidemic control. Resilient in the face of flatlined funding and political headwinds, PEPFAR is America’s singular example of how to fight long-term plague—and win. To End a Plague is not merely the definitive history of this extraordinary program; it traces the lives of the activists who first impelled President Bush to take action, and later sought to prevent AIDS deaths at the whims of American politics. Moving from raucous street protests to the marbled halls of Washington and the clinics and homes where Ugandan people living with HIV fight to survive, it reveals an America that was once capable of real and meaningful change—and illuminates imperatives for future pandemic wars. Exhaustively researched and vividly written, this is the true story of an American moonshot.