In Covid's Wake: How Our Politics Failed Us

In Covid's Wake: How Our Politics Failed Us - Paperback

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In Covid's Wake: How Our Politics Failed Us
  • In Covid's Wake: How Our Politics Failed Us
In Covid's Wake: How Our Politics Failed Us - Paperback

In Covid's Wake: How Our Politics Failed Us - Paperback

by Stephen Macedo , Frances Lee
$19.95
$19.95

Book Overview

by Stephen Macedo (Author), Frances Lee (Author)

One of The Wall Street Journal's 10 Best Books of the Year
Featured on the New York Times' The Daily podcast and CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS
What our failures during the pandemic cost us, and why we must do better

The Covid pandemic quickly led to the greatest mobilization of emergency powers in human history. By early April 2020, half the world's population--3.9 billion people--were living under quarantine. People were told not to leave their homes; businesses were shuttered, employees laid off, and schools closed for months or even years. The most devastating pandemic in a century and the policies adopted in response to it upended life as we knew it. In this eye-opening book, Stephen Macedo and Frances Lee examine our pandemic response and pose some provocative questions: Why did we ignore pre-Covid plans for managing a pandemic? Were the voices of reasonable dissent treated fairly? Did we adequately consider the costs and benefits of different policy options? And, aside from vaccines, did the policies adopted work as intended?

With In Covid's Wake, Macedo and Lee offer the first comprehensive--and candid--political assessment of how our institutions fared during the pandemic. They describe how, influenced by Wuhan's lockdown, governments departed from their existing pandemic plans. Hard choices were obscured by slogans like "follow the science." Benefits and harms were distributed unfairly. The policies adopted largely benefited the laptop class and left so-called essential workers unprotected; extended school closures hit the least-privileged families the hardest. Science became politicized and dissent was driven to the margins. In the next crisis, Macedo and Lee warn, we must not forget the deepest values of liberal democracy: tolerance and open-mindedness, respect for evidence and its limits, a willingness to entertain uncertainty, and a commitment to telling the whole truth.

Author Biography

Stephen Macedo is the Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Politics and the University Center for Human Values at Princeton University. He is the author of Just Married: Same-Sex Couples, Monogamy, and the Future of Marriage (Princeton); Diversity and Distrust: Civic Education in a Multicultural Democracy; and Liberal Virtues: Citizenship, Virtue, and Community in Liberal Constitutionalism. Frances Lee is professor of politics and public affairs at Princeton University. She is the author of Insecure Majorities: Congress and the Perpetual Campaign; Beyond Ideology: Politics, Principles, and Partisanship in the U.S. Senate; and (with James M. Curry) The Limits of Party: Congress and Lawmaking in a Polarized Age.

Number of Pages: 400
Dimensions: 1.3 x 7.8 x 5.2 IN
Publication Date: April 21, 2026
ISBN9780691267142
Author Stephen Macedo , Frances Lee
PublisherPrinceton University Press
GenreNews & politics and Health & fitness
FormatPaperback
PublishedApril 2026
LanguageENG- English
Pages400
Weight1.0 lb
Target AudienceAdults
Print SizeStandard Print

Related Subjects

Health & Fitness Nonfiction Political Science

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About Stephen Macedo
Stephen Macedo is the Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Politics and the former director of the University Center for Human Values at Princeton University. His many books include Liberal Virtues and Diversity and Distrust. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
About Frances Lee
Frances Lee is a Canadian-Korean tattoo artist who writes stories when not designing for clients. Born and currently living in Toronto with a very awesome toddler Maverick and a bird named Dean, she often finds herself pondering about outer space and wishing for the ability to walk through walls. Ami Moon and the Galactic Peacekeepers, the first book in a trilogy, is her debut.

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