They are unseen, impenetrable, and ubiquitous.
For thousands of years, microbes have been humankind's most deadly killers—reshaping history more compellingly than kings, wars, or revolutions. Through the Black Death to COVID-19, these tiny creatures have toppled empires, remade economies, and left their mark on each and every generation.

In Microbe Wars: The Dark Side – Pathogens & Plagues, science's best-selling continues to meet its match in the medical thriller. Go inside the mysterious world of viruses and bacteria as they swell into pandemics, plague crowded cities, and outwit the best defenses of modern medicine. Meet the scientists who cracked their codes—from pathfinder John Snow plotting cholera to a water pump, to the desperate search for a COVID vaccine. Survive the dread of the Antonine Plague, the carnage of 1918 flu, the horror of HIV/AIDS, and the rise of antibiotic-resistant superbugs.

Written in lively but scientifically accurate terms, this book brings hard biology alive and into perspective. Drawn from real-life stories, evocative analogies, and current scientific research, it shows how human beings and microbes are locked in an endless arms race—one that will shape our destiny as much as our past.

If you enjoyed Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything or The Hot Zone by Richard Preston, you'll be reading until the wee hours.