Description: Since March 2020, there has been an explosion of analyses about the short-term impact and future consequences of long COVID on international relations. This unprecedented crisis demands that we think about how, in the "next world," we can work to improve the economy, social justice, the environment, gender relations, health, and political institutions--or at least ensure that they do not further deteriorate.
Brief description: Jennifer Welsh is a professor at McGill University's Department of Political Science and Max Bell School of Public Policy. She is the Canada 150 Research Chair in Global Governance and Security as well as Director of the Centre for International Peace and Security Studies (CIPSS).
Review Quotes:
The past, what it was and how it impacts the present can be viewed through many lenses. That's especially true of a global pandemic that left no-one on Earth unaffected. The Afterworld conveys that symphonic effect of multiple narratives very well.
Our understanding of the past and its impact on the present also depends on the perspective of distance. The passage of time allows us see things that may not have been immediately apparent. This book also underscores that reality.
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Is The Afterworld worth reading? Absolutely. And it should be on all relevant post-secondary reading lists. It provides a public service in terms of both education and as an early panorama from a crucial moment in history.