Violence is an epidemic that can be cured. So says Dr. Gary Slutkin, and as someone who spent most of his career as an epidemiologist with the World Health Organization, he knows what he is talking about.

The author spent decades ending epidemics with the WHO all over the world. When there was an outbreak of malaria, typhus, AIDS, or Covid, Slutkin flew to whatever country he needed to “adapt the basic epidemic playbook to investigate, diagnose, and control a contagion to the epidemic at hand.” He applied his method to one disease after another, each time adapting and learning from experience, always with good results ranging from slowing transmission to complete elimination. It was straightforward, tough, and rewarding work, but also tiring and isolating. The sheer scale of the suffering as well as working with foreign governments, including a dictatorship, left Slutkin depleted. 

In a new book, an epidemiologist claims violence is a contagious disease that can be contained.