The Helpers

Profiles from the Front Lines of the Pandemic

This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.
Buy on Amazon Buy on Waterstones.com
*This page contains affiliate links, so we may earn a small commission when you make a purchase through links on our site at no additional cost to you.
Send NetGalley books directly to your Kindle or Kindle app

1
To read on a Kindle or Kindle app, please add kindle@netgalley.com as an approved email address to receive files in your Amazon account. Click here for step-by-step instructions.
2
Also find your Kindle email address within your Amazon account, and enter it here.
Pub Date 1 Mar 2022 | Archive Date 28 Feb 2022

Talking about this book? Use #TheHelpers #NetGalley. More hashtag tips!


Description

A deeply moving narrative of the coronavirus pandemic, told through portraits of eight individuals who worked tirelessly to help others.

In March 2020, COVID-19 overtook the United States, and life changed for America. In a matter of weeks the virus impacted millions, with lockdown measures radically reshaping the lives of even those who did not become infected. Yet despite the fear, hardship, and heartbreak from this period of collective struggle, there was hope.

In The Helpers, journalist Kathy Gilsinan profiles eight individuals on the frontlines of the coronavirus battle: a devoted son caring for his family in the San Francisco Bay Area; a not-quite-retired paramedic from Colorado; an ICU nurse in the Bronx; the CEO of a Seattle-based ventilator company; a vaccine researcher at Moderna in Boston; a young chef and culinary teacher in Louisville, Kentucky; a physician in Chicago; and a funeral home director in Seattle and Los Angeles. These inspiring individual accounts create an unforgettable tapestry of how people across the country and the socioeconomic spectrum came together to fight the most deadly pandemic in a century.

About the Author: Kathy Gilsinan is a contributing writer at the Atlantic, where she has reported on national security and contributed to its extensive and acclaimed coronavirus coverage. 

A deeply moving narrative of the coronavirus pandemic, told through portraits of eight individuals who worked tirelessly to help others.

In March 2020, COVID-19 overtook the United States, and life...


Advance Praise

"Kathy Gilsinan’s optimistic The Helpers describes the remarkable awakening that coalesced around the COVID-19 pandemic. Gilsinan does not shy away from the very real grief, but her powerful storytelling brings to light the grit, urgency, and inspiration of ordinary Americans in extraordinary times. A necessary dose of hope!" - Danielle Ofri, MD, PhD, clinical professor of medicine at NYU School of Medicine, Editor-in-Chief of Bellevue Literary Review, and author of When We Do Harm

"Brilliantly conceived, carefully reported, grippingly and vividly written, The Helpers is a story of the pandemic that will last." - James Fallows, coauthor of Our Towns: A 100,000-Mile Journey into the Heart of America

"Kathy Gilsinan’s optimistic The Helpers describes the remarkable awakening that coalesced around the COVID-19 pandemic. Gilsinan does not shy away from the very real grief, but her powerful...


Available Editions

EDITION Hardcover
ISBN 9780393867022
PRICE US$24.95 (USD)

Available on NetGalley

NetGalley Shelf App (PDF)
Send to Kindle (PDF)

Average rating from 20 members


Featured Reviews

Superb book, really well written and cleverly constructed. The way the different people's stories interweave showed how connected we all are despite how disconnected the pandemic has made us feel. Joy and sadness obviously both feature as they should really given, once again, how the last couple of years have affected all of us.
A fascinating insight into communities that perhaps many of us would not get to experience otherwise.

Was this review helpful?

Poignant for me to read as someone more than halfway through medical school. I loved the interweaving stories of those involved in the pandemic response. We need more books like this.

Was this review helpful?

Thank you for the opportunity to read 'The Helpers'.

I found it fascinating to read about the lives of eight individuals who made a difference to so many other people's lives during the Covid pandemic in the USA. The book was well researched, educational and covered many different aspects of the pandemic - patients, doctors, volunteers, ventilator manufacturers etc.

It has given me a new insight and respect for the work just a few to them many unsung heroes contributed to helping the world move through the pandemic.

Was this review helpful?

Readers who liked this book also liked: