Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection

By John Green

Instant #1 New York Times bestseller! • #1 Washington Post bestseller! • #1 Indie Bestseller! • USA Today Bestseller!

'Earnest and empathetic.' – New York Times

Tuberculosis has been entwined with hu­manity for millennia. Once romanticized as a malady of poets, today tuberculosis is seen as a disease of poverty that walks the trails of injustice and inequity we blazed for it.

In 2019, author John Green met Henry Reider, a young tuberculosis patient at Lakka Government Hospital in Sierra Leone. John be­came fast friends with Henry, a boy with spindly legs and a big, goofy smile. In the years since that first visit to Lakka, Green has become a vocal advocate for increased access to treatment and wider awareness of the healthcare inequi­ties that allow this curable, preventable infec­tious disease to also be the deadliest, killing over a million people every year.

In Everything Is Tuberculosis, John tells Henry’s story, woven through with the scientific and social histories of how tuberculosis has shaped our world—and how our choices will shape the future of tuberculosis.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ebury Digital
• Release date: Mar 20, 2025
• ISBN: 9781529961454

John Green

John Green es el autor best seller de novelas como Bajo la misma estrella, Buscando a Alaska y Mil veces hasta siempre. Sus libros han recibido numerosos reconocimientos, entre los cuales destacan la medalla Printz, el Premio de Honor Printz y el Premio Edgard. Green ha sido finalista en dos ocasiones del Book Prize del LA Times y fue seleccionado por la revista Time como una de las 100 personas más influyentes del mundo. Es también guionista y presentador del podcast The Anthropocene Reviewed, que ha recibido excelentes críticas. Junto con su hermano, Hank, John Green ha creado muchos proyectos online de vídeo, incluyendo Vlogbrothers y el canal educativo Crash Course. Vive con su familia en Indianápolis, Indiana.

Reviews for Everything Is Tuberculosis

[schmavery · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I'd never read anything by John Green but had this recommended by a few people and was glad I took a look. I enjoyed many of the anecdotes and quotes that were used as analogies and motifs throughout the book.

It's a relatively quick and easy read, apart from a few emotional stories -- the author focuses on some specific people in an attempt to humanize the sufferers of TB. This becomes a fairly central theme, pushing to neither romanticize nor stigmatize the disease, both of which have happened plenty in its very long (I learned) history.

I recently read Abundance by Klein & Thompson, another popular non-fiction book this year, and found Everything Is Tuberculosis to be an interesting complement to it. Important to remember that achieving the vision of abundance in the "developed" world doesn't automatically mean those problems get solved everywhere.

[acargile-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I had been reading so much sweet romance because I needed bibliotherapy, but I decided to read something of more substance. This novel was perfect. My brother had TB, but none of the rest of us got infected. Beyond scarred lungs, he's been fine. I assume he took medicine, but I was too young to remember.

The main idea is that TB can be cured. We have medicine for it; however, where the medicine is, the illness is not. Where the illness is, the medicine is not. Green tells of various people in history who contracted TB and follows Henry in Africa as he battles the disease in the 2000s. We learn about the prejudice against TB, which I didn't know about.

The novel is the perfect length. It doesn't overwhelm with information but gives enough historical background that it's really interesting. I'm not a huge non-fiction reader, but I try to read some because it's always worth it. Well, most of the time. I enjoyed meeting Henry, learning about TB in Sierra Leon, and seeing how much advancement has been made medically.

It's well worth one's time.

[lauralkeet · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

John Green might be best known for his novels, including the highly successful The Fault in Our Stars, published in 2012. Green is also a very popular YouTuber on his own and in collaboration with his brother Hank. For the past few years he has used his public profile to become a global health advocate, specifically concerning tuberculosis, a disease that still kills over a million people every year. As Green puts it in Everything is Tuberculosis, “the cure is where the disease is not, and the disease is where the cure is not.”

This book is both a history of a devastating disease and a view of the present-day through the story of Henry, a young tuberculosis patient in Sierra Leone. Green exposes the inequities in the global healthcare system that often prevent those with the greatest need from receiving care. In 2023, Green personally spearheaded a campaign against Johnson & Johnson to allow manufacture of generic versions of their tuberculosis drug, reducing the cost of treatment so dramatically that it could finally be made available to poor countries and communities.

I learned a great deal from this book. The world needs more people like John Green to fight for those who cannot.

[renzomalo · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Some interesting facts and stories about man's battle with infectious diseases but tainted by some misinformation and a little too much "would'a, should'a, coulda' virtue signaling for my taste. Mr. Green stated that "tuberculosis made AIDS worse." Nonsense! AIDS disables the immune system so it was AIDS that made TB worse by destroying the bodies ability to defend itself. There's more but why bother.

[clue_4 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Green's new book is exactly what the subtitle says it is. He writes near the end that he has been obsessed with the disease, and it's clear that he has been. He also writes near the end "I cannot take in what it means to lose 1,250,000 each year to a curable illness". It has been curable since the mid-twentieth century so think about that.

[jscape2000 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Am I grading on a curve because I love John Green's Crash Course History YouTube series, and this audiobook feels like an extended video? Sure I am.

But this is also a five star book because of the case it makes for the value of society's investment in long shots, in miracles, in deliberate actions to save one person. Because although one life is inconsequential in the history of the world, one life could be the whole world to us.

[mm_jones · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

From best-selling author John Greene, EVERYTHING IS TUBERCULOSIS: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection. Less than 200 pages, the book is fascinating, especially for someone who considered it a disease of the past.
In 1882, when Robert Koch identified the bacteria that caused the disease, it precipitated a profound shift from the idea of an inherited disease of intellect (consumption in English literature) to a contracted disease of filth in the racialization of tuberculosis.
Streptomycin became available in the mid-1940s. By the late 1950s, the illness was broadly curable.
Wonderful adventure read.

[shazjhb · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Interesting book about TB. A personal story bringing back memories.

[dele2451 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Never have I learned so much about a complex medical topic within the cover of a small single book. John Green has certainly put his popular writer's megaphone to very good use with the publication of this informative, important, heartbreaking and heartwarming story. A recommended read for any adult anywhere on the planet. We should be all be thankful John and Henry bumped into one another in that distant hospital hallway.

[mickyfine · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

John Green delves into the history of tuberculosis and how this single disease shaped so much of our world and continues to be one of the leading causes of death globally. Framing this history of tuberculosis, is the story of Henry a teenaged tuberculosis patient that Green met while on a trip to Sierra Leone in 2019.

John Green is an excellent writer and he turns his tremendous talents here to exploring the history and present of a disease that has devastated so many lives. His decision to use Henry's story as a frame for delving into the realities of tuberculosis puts a human and relatable face on the realities of fighting this disease in the twenty-first century. In between Henry's story, Green explores the science of tuberculosis, its cultural impacts, and the ongoing fight to eliminate this curable disease that still kills millions every year. A powerful read that I strongly recommend.

[kalliegrace · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I always love nonfiction from John Green, and this was excellent. It could certainly have been longer and more in-depth, but as a vehicle to get more people to care about these preventable deaths I think it's perfect.

[formerenglishteacher · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

John Green is known primarily for his wonderful YA (young adult) books, all best sellers, but this joins his nonfiction list including the Anthropocene Reviewed, a book of essays born from Green and his brother’s podcast that “reviews various aspects of the human-centered planet on a five-star scale” (Google AI). This book is Green’s gift to the world of understanding one of our most misunderstood diseases, Tuberculosis. Before you dismiss the book because you don’t think you care about a disease that has faded from memory in this country, consider it if you felt threatened by our recent experience with Covid 19. Green tells the story of TB through the journey of a young Sierra Leonean named Henry, a named he shares with Green’s own son. Through Henry’s story, Green educates his readers with the knowledge that TB is not an incurable disease. It is a disease of social and economic class where “rich” countries like our own are able to spend little time concerning ourselves with the ravages of it. In the meantime, TB continues to spread and kill in poorer countries, especially in Africa where Henry lives. I would like to hear John Green’s take on the current state of U.S. aid to the less fortunate world. Because of recent events, the result of the last presidential election, this book is more important than ever. Hopefully, it won’t be banned in schools and public libraries, although I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if it is.

[mktoronto · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book is a beautiful mix of the history and treatment of tuberculosis and the tale of a man who spent his childhood in Sierra Leone battling it. Green does a great job of outlining how tuberculosis has shaped social mores and medical othering for centuries. He then makes a passionate case for TB being a disease of injustice just as much as bacteria. His compassion and authenticity comes through on every page. The book ends with an element of hope, showing us that with societal commitment we can stop the million plus deaths from this plague.

(Unfortunately, the asshats decimating the US government have stopped funding all the promising work that is mentioned at the end. Green talked about this during his press tour and you can find the interviews on YouTube. Funding needs to be stepped up, not cut, and not just from the US. Canada can play a role in this too.)

I follow Green on his Vlogbrothers channel so I've watched him create the book as he shared his steps along the way. To say I was excited for it is an understatement and it lived up to my expectations. I'm especially grateful that in an era of 300 - 400 page books becoming standard, this one comes in at a sweet 200 pages. This includes a recommended reading section at the end to delve deeper to whatever aspect you want. I don't know if a perfect book exists but this comes pretty damn close.

[charon07 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

If you’ve seen John Green talk about his book or about his friend Henry Reider, you’ll know what to expect from Everything Is Tuberculosis. In his earnest, thoughtful, and compassionate way, he presents the history of tuberculosis, its sociocultural impacts, and the toll it takes on human lives, all grounded in the story of his friend Henry, whom he met in Sierra Leone at a hospital for patients with tuberculosis. It is also, in a way, about how we think about public health in terms of cost-benefit analysis rather than in terms of human suffering, about how problems become “out of sight, out of mind” until they resurge to bite us in the ass. This book is also a sad and timely testament to how cruel and short-sighted the current administration’s hacking away at U.S. aid for international health programs is.

[bookworm12_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Green focuses on one boy, Henry, who is fighting TB in Sierra Leone. His real experience is woven with the history of tuberculosis and the unbelievable impact it has had on our current culture, beauty standards, and healthcare system. I love seeing how Green, originally a YA fiction writer, has transitioned into writing books that match his current interests. He manages to bring humanity to a topic that could feel sterile or overly factual in less gifted hands. One of the things I loved best about this one is the exploration of stigmatizing the disease, both as an exclusion to society and as a glorified "artistic" disease depending on where you live. Like all of Green's work, its beauty lies in his understanding of both humanity's flaws and strengths.

[helena11-369096 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Mere despair never tells the whole human story, as much as despair would like to insist otherwise. Hopelessness has the insidious talent of explaining everything: the reason X or Y sucks is that everything sucks, the reason you're miserable is because misery is the correct response to the world as we find it, and so on. I am prone to despair, and so I know its powerful voice; it just doesn't happen to be true. Here's the truth as I see it: Vicious cycles are common. Injustice and unfairness permeate every aspect of human life. But virtuous cycles are also possible.

Listening to John Green talk about this book a few months ago in person was so crazy and childhood-affirming. Reading this felt like a really gentle punch to the gut followed by Green's comforting Liberal Optimism. This was super short and could it have gone more in depth? Sure. I hope everyone who reads this gets as incensed with the for-profit pharmaceutical industry as I am and starts to examine the ways in which health and inequality are inextricably linked. I don't know if that will be the case. Regardless, however, this was a 5 star read for me and a Tuberculosis 101 course, priming me for further reading (which he provides at the end of the book!!).

[sennebec · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Informative, personal, passionate, and forcing the reader to make a good faith effort to wrap their head around the racial, social, and economic insanity that drives (or more correctly) impedes global efforts to treat this particular disease. An excellent thought provoker.

[hccpsk · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Evidently, John Green has been obsessed with Tuberculosis since he met a young man named Henry at a hospital in Sierra Leone more than a decade ago. Lucky for readers, this obsession turned into Everything is Tuberculosis. Green masterfully mixes a personal narrative that includes his trip to Africa, his own medical struggles, the history of tuberculosis, TB treatments, political causes and ramifications surrounding the disease, Henry’s story, and a lot more. He packs a lot into a brief book while keeping the science understandable and the narrative moving briskly. Anyone wanting to learn more about the world’s successes and failures regarding the most deadly disease in human history should grab a copy.

[jetangen4571 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This very moving nonfiction account of one young man, his continent, and the disease that has always been there to depopulate and devastate which tried its very best to eliminate him. It is the rather global history of the disease itself and how politics to this very day has played too great a part in our failure to eradicate it. Please read this book in print, on screen, or listen to the audio!
#history #science #medicine #nonfiction #contagion #health #politics #ocd #respiratorydisease
@goodreads @bookbub @tantoraudio @librarythingofficial @barnesandnoble ***** Review #booksamillion #bookshop_org #bookshop_org_uk #kobo #Waterstones @penguinrandomhouse
@johngreenwritesbooks #audiobook #narratedbyauthor #crashcoursebooks

[foggidawn · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Before visiting Lakka hospital in Sierra Leone, author John Green kind of assumed that tuberculosis wasn't really at thing anymore. Wasn't it one of those illnesses of the past that we'd already found a cure for? Well, no and yes: though drugs to treat and cure TB were developed over 75 years ago, it still ravages poor and mid-range countries, especially where the infrastructure to distribute the medicines doesn't exist. At Lakka, Green met Henry, a patient that Green at first assumed to be around the same age as his 9-year-old son (also named Henry). Green soon learned that Henry at Lakka was actually 17: malnutrition and disease had stunted his growth, though not his spirit or creativity. As Green got to know Henry and his mother Isatu, his interest in TB increased. Over the course of his research into the disease, he learned many fascinating stories about how the history of TB is entwined with the history of humanity. As for the future, who can say? Humanity has the means to eradicate the disease, though it would be a generations-long process costing billions of dollars. The alternative, however, is that the disease continues to spread, especially in drug-resistant forms. Could it someday be as deadly as it was before a cure was developed?

Green's writing, as always, goes down easy. His conversational authorial voice makes for a pleasant reading experience. As a listener to the podcast he does with his brother Hank, I had heard many of his anecdotes about the history of TB, though the book ties these together with the story of Henry as his illness progresses. It's not a long book, but one hopes that it will be an important one, raising awareness of the issue of getting TB treatments to places around the world where they are desperately needed.