In 2020, the novel coronavirus pandemic made it clear that the U.S. struggled protect its own citizens. Why and how did America become the world leader in COVID deaths?
In their new book, The Big Fail, veteran journalists Joe Nocera and Bethany MacLean offer some new and provocative answers. They investigate both what really happened when governments ran out of PPE due to snarled supply chains, and the shock to the financial system when the world’s biggest economy stumbled. They zero in on the effectiveness of wildly polarized approaches, with governors across the country taking infamous turns in the spotlight. And they trace why thousands died in hollowed-out hospital systems and nursing homes run by private equity firms.
Joe Nocera is an op-ed columnist for The New York Times. His previous books include A Piece of the Action and All the Devils Are Here, co-written by Bethany McLean. He’s won three Gerald Loeb Awards for excellence in business journalism and was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in 2006.
