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Pandemic, Inc.: Chasing the Capitalists and Thieves Who Got Rich While We Got Sick

Pandemic, Inc.: Chasing the Capitalists and Thieves Who Got Rich While We Got Sick

by J. David McSwane

Atria/One Signal Publishers ·2022 ·336 pages ·Investigative Journalism
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54/99
Near the Top

71/99

Critics

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Scholars

90/99

Rating

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Volume

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About This Book

For readers of War Dogs and Bad Blood, an explosive look inside the rush to profit from the COVID-19 pandemic, from the award-winning ProPublica reporter who saw it firsthand. The United States federal government has spent over $10 billion on medical protective wear and emergency supplies, yet as COVID-19 swept the nation, life-saving equipment such as masks, gloves, and ventilators was nearly impossible to find. In this brilliant nonfiction thriller, award-winning investigative reporter J. David McSwane takes us behind the scenes to reveal how traders, contractors, and healthcare companies used one of the darkest moments in American history to fill their pockets. Determined to uncover how this was possible, he spent over a year on private jets and in secret warehouses, traveling from California to Chicago to Washington DC, to interview both the most treacherous of profiteers and the victims of their crimes. Pandemic, Inc. is the story of the fraudster who signed a multi-million-dollar contract with the government to provide lifesaving PPE, and yet never came up with a single mask. The Navy admiral at the helm of the national hunt for additional medical resources. The Department of Health whistleblower who championed masks early on and was silenced by the government and conservative media. And the politician who callously slashed federal emergency funding and gutted the federal PPE stockpile. Winner of the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting, McSwane connects the dots between backdoor deals and the spoils systems to provide the definitive account of how this pandemic was so catastrophically mishandled. Shocking and revelatory, Pandemic, Inc. exposes a system that is both deeply rigged, and singularly American.


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Reviews

"will make whatever guilt you may harbor for hoarding toilet paper pale next to the deeds of a network of dodgy scammers and profiteers who, as McSwane puts it, 'did insane things to get rich while our nation suffered an incalculable loss of life and global standing' ..."

Katie Hafner· The Washington Post Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"Corruption and incompetence aren't going away, but reporting like McSwane's makes it a little easier to combat them."

Kevin Canfield· San Francisco Chronicle Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"At a time when COVID-19 exhaustion is settling in, McSwane, an award-winning investigative journalist for the independent, nonprofit media outlet ProPublica, introduces the sketchy world of opportunists and their slippery network of connections, sparking fresh outrage over the time wasted and lives lost while greed and profit trumped public health and safety."

Carol Haggas· Booklist Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"Lucid analysis and dogged reporting make this a startling exposé of how unfettered capitalism, startup culture, and government corruption exacerbated the worst effects of the pandemic."

Publishers Weekly Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"Revealing one outrage after another, McSwane's book should prompt congressional review and systemic reform."

Kirkus Read review ↗ Near the Top

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