The protagonist, graduate student Isherwood Williams, suffers a near-lethal snake bite while doing field work in the Sierra Mountains.

That they do, with an all-too-human mixture of courage, ingenuity and folly. The author brilliantly portrays ordinary people chosen by their fates to repopulate humanity, blessed – and cursed – with an inventory of goods and traditions that they alone could re-stock. The “sciences” in the fiction are ecology, epidemiology, sociology, and doubtless more. But there are no space ships, no intergalactic battles, and no time travel. The book is normally shelved in the science fiction section. But why am I so in love with this masterpiece? And how is it relevant to the current Coronavirus situation and Voices of a New Republic of the Heart? I’ll attempt to explain.

It received high praise from Carl Sandberg and Robert Frost! It has never been out of print. A few years ago, my Google search confirmed why I was so impressed with Earth Abides. I’ve read it three or four times since then, with almost the same gusto. Fascinating! I checked it out and read it, nearly nonstop. Its cover depicted an abandoned, decaying city. I was a freshman at Evanston (IL) Township High School, and I noticed a book on the library’s “new releases” shelf: Earth Abides by George R.

As reports of the COVID-19 virus continue and the potential scope of this incipient pandemic has become apparent, I’ve had a flashback to 1950.

Book the earth abides