Book & podcast collection

The Viral Underclass: The Human Toll When Inequality and Disease Collide

bySteven Thrasher

Steven Thrasher explains how viruses exploit social inequality, creating a “viral underclass” whose illness and death are treated as acceptable. Drawing on HIV, COVID-19, and other outbreaks, he follows people affected by racism, poverty, incarceration, borders, homophobia, disability, and unequal medical access. The book connects molecular transmission with housing, labor, policing, and political choices, rejecting the idea that disease is a purely biological accident. Thrasher argues that public health cannot succeed through individual behavior alone; it requires solidarity and structural change that make every person's survival count.

Publisher

Celadon Books

Publication date

2022

Format

Print edition

Pages

—

ISBN

9781250796639