I highly recommend “The Return of Fear” by Justin Davidson. It’s a discussion of the effects of the current pandemic and lockdown in the context of past tragedies of various types. Some of them, fires and old epidemics, I’ve touched on here. Any tragedy has historical context, and knowing that context can help in dealing with our current-day difficulties. On a very small scale, knowing how we dealt with the recession of 2008-2009 is helping us plan now. Knowing that the wealthier precincts of the city used to empty out when yellow fever was here puts the current lockdown and partial exodus in perspective.
The flip side of the fear is hope, and my recommendation for reading there is “Here is New York” by E.B. White, published in 1949. Many of the details have changed in the last 70 years, but nothing about the essay is out of date.
