For millennia, tuberculosis has been deeply woven into the human story. Once romanticized as a tragic affliction of poets, it is now understood as a disease of poverty, thriving along the paths of social injustice and systemic inequity we have allowed to endure.

The battle became deeply personal for bestselling author John Green in 2019, when he visited Sierra Leone's Lakka Government Hospital and befriended Henry Reider—a young TB patient with a bright, unforgettable smile. That bond transformed Green into a passionate advocate, championing the fight against healthcare disparities that allow a completely preventable, curable infection to remain the world's deadliest infectious disease, claiming over a million lives annually.

In Everything Is Tuberculosis, Green masterfully weaves Henry’s personal journey together with the broader scientific and social history of the disease, delivering an urgent reminder that human choices will ultimately dictate the future of this global epidemic.