The Pandemic Perhaps: Dramatic Events in a Public Culture of Danger

Carlo Caduff. The Pandemic Perhaps: Dramatic Events in a Public Culture of Danger. Oakland: University of California Press, 2015. xvi + 254 pp. $29.95 Ill. (978-05202-8409-8).

Caduff's book is an ethnography of what he calls pandemic prophecy-or the scientific narrative that claims a widespread and deadly outbreak of infectious disease is all but guaranteed, the "not if, but when" story of the coming plague. The infectious agent typically at the core of these predictions is a novel strain of influenza. Each outbreak or pandemic is merely a "proxy for the coming pandemic" (p. 150). This is the crux of Caduff s argument and represents a new perspective, extending the literature on risk and preparedness in the social sciences. Caduff's careful reading of history-and his deft blending of history and ethnography- also makes this book an interesting addition to the history of pandemics, infectious disease, and epidemiology.

In six chapters, Caduff traces the century-long history of influenza research, key events during the similarly mild 1976 and 2009 influenza pandemics (and their mismanaged vaccine production), recent debates about the safety of lab research on "bird flu" and the fight to publish scientific findings from such research, and public health preparedness exercises and drills meant...