With the devastating effects of COVID-19 still rattling the foundations of our global civilisation, we live in unprecedented times – or so we might think. But pandemics have been a constant presence throughout human history, as humans and disease live side by side. Over the centuries, our ability to react to these sweeping killers has evolved, most notably through the development of vaccines. The story of disease eradication, however, has never been one of simply science – it is political, cultural and deeply personal. Ranging across continents and centuries, Schama unpacks the stories of the often unknown individuals whose pioneering work changed the face of modern healthcare. Questioning why the occurrence of pandemics appears to be accelerating alarming, he looks into our impact on the natural world, and how that in turn is impacting us.