Rabid: A Cultural History of the World's Most Diabolical Virus

(Paperback)

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A maddened creature, frothing at the mouth, lunges at an innocent victim . . . With a bite, the creature transforms its prey into another monster. It's a scenario that underlies out darkest tales of supernatural horror, but its power derives from a very real virus, a deadly scourge known to humankind from our earliest days. In this lively and engrossing investigation, journalist Bill Wasik and veterinarian Monica Murphy chart four thousand years of the history, science, and cultural mythology of rabies. From Greek myths to zombie flicks, from the laboratory heroics of Louis Pasteur to the contemporary search for a lifesaving treatment, Rabid is a fresh and often wildly entertaining look at one of humankind's oldest and most fearsome foes. 'In this keen and exceptionally well-written book, rife with surprises, narrative suspense, and a steady flow of expansive insights, 'the world's most diabolical virus' conquers the unsuspecting reader's imaginative nervous system . . . A smart, unsettling, and strangely stirring piece of work.' San Francisco Chronicle 'Fascinating . . . Wasik and Murphy chronicle more than two millennia of myths and discoveries about rabies and the animals that transmit it, including dogs, bats, and raccoons.' The Wall Street Journal

Reviews

A searing narrative.
The New York Times

In this keen and exceptionally well-written book, rife with surprises, narrative suspense and a steady flow of expansive insights, the worlds most diabolical virus conquers the unsuspecting readers imaginative nervous system. . . . A smart, unsettling, and strangely stirring piece of work.
San Francisco Chronicle

Fascinating. . . . Wasik and Murphy chronicle more than two millennia of myths and discoveries about rabies and the animals that transmit it, including dogs, bats and raccoons.
The Wall Street Journal

Rabid delivers the drama of Louis Pasteurs courageous work developing the rabies vaccine at the same time it details the diseases place in our cultural history, taking us from Homer to the Bronte sisters to Zora Neale Hurston to Richard Matheson. . . . All along the books prose and pace shinethe book is as fast as the virus is slow.
The Seattle Times

A very readable, fascinating account of a terrifying disease.Wasik and Murphy grippingly trace the cultural history of the disease. . . . Rabid reminds us that the disease is a chilling, persistent reminder of our own animal connections, and of the simple fact that humans dont call all of the shots.
The Boston Globe

Compelling. . . . Murphy and Wasik give life, context and understanding to the terrifying disease. Like the virus itself, this fascinating book moves quickly, exploring both the marginalized status and deadly nature of the virus. And as the authors trace the influence of rabies through history, Rabid becomes nearly impossible to put down.
New Scientist

An elegant exploration of the science behind one of the most horrible way to die.
Chris Anderson, author of The Long Tail

This book is not for the squeamish. Yet those who are fascinated by how viruses attack the body, by the history of vaccination and by physicians efforts to save the most desperately ill patients will want to read it. There is also a happy ending: scientists are working to harness rabies as a potent drug delivery vehicle.
Scientific American

[Wasik and Murphy] offer an in-depth look at a disease so insidious that it even turns our best friendsdogsagainst us. The pair convincingly link the history of rabieswith the history of mans fear of nature and the unknown, and our own latent capacity for beastliness.
The Daily Beast

Thrilling, smart, and devilishly entertaining, Rabid is one of those books that changes your sense of historyand reminds us how much our human story has been shaped by the viruses that live among us.
Steven Johnson, author of The Ghost Map

Rabies has always been as much metaphor as disease, making it an excellent subject for cultural history. . . . As Wasik and Murphy document . . . the horror of rabies has been with us since the beginning of human civilization.
Bookforum

Funny and spry. . . . Its a rare pleasure to read a nonfiction book by authors who research like academics but write like journalists.
Alice Gregory, n+1

Readable, fascinating, informative, and occasionally gruesome, this is highly recommended for anyone interested in medical history or the cultural history of disease.
Library Journal (starred review)

Take Bill Wasik, one of our most perceptive journalistic storytellers, have him join forces with Monica Murphy, scholar of public health, and you end up with this erudite, true-life creep show of a book. It turns out that the rabies virus is a good bit more fascinating and at least as frightening as any of those blood-thirsty monsters that have stalked our fairy tales, multiplexes, and dreams.
Donovan Hohn, author of Moby Duck

Ambitious and smart.
Publishers Weekly

Terrible virus, fascinating history in Rabid.
NPR

As entertaining as they are on rabies in culture, the authors also eruditely report on medicine and public health issues through history, from ancient Assyria to Bali to Manhattan in the last five years, showing that while the disease may be contained, it may never be fully conquered. Surprisingly fun reading about a fascinating malady.
Kirkus Reviews

The ultimate weird dad book.
Very Short List

The rabies virus is a microscopic particle of genes and proteins. And yet it has cast a fearful shadow over all of human history. Bill Wasik and Monica Murphy have produced an eerily elegant meditation on disease and madness, dogs and vampires. It's as infectious as its subject.
Carl Zimmer, NPR contributor and author of Parasite Rex

A fun read, rivaling a Stephen King novel for page-turning thrills.
The Awl

Author Bio

Bill Wasik is a senior editor at Wired and was formerly a senior editor at Harper's.
Monica Murphy, Wasik's wife, is a veterinarian. They live in Oakland, California.