# The Viral Underclass: The Human Toll When Inequality and Disease Collide - Hardcover

by **Steven W. Thrasher** (Author)

**\*\*LONGLISTED FOR THE 2023 PEN/JOHN KENNETH GALBRAITH AWARD FOR NONFICTION\*\***  
**\*\*LONGLISTED FOR THE 2023 ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDALS FOR EXCELLENCE\*\***  
**\*\*WINNER OF THE 2022 POZ AWARD FOR BEST IN LITERATURE\*\***

"An irresistibly readable and humane exploration of the barbarities of class...readers are gifted that most precious of things in these muddled times: a clear lens through which to see the world."  
\--Naomi Klein, _New York Times_ bestselling author of _This Changes Everything_ and _The Shock Doctrine_  
**  
From preeminent LGBTQ scholar, social critic, and journalist Steven W. Thrasher comes a powerful and crucial exploration of one of the most pressing issues of our times: how viruses expose the fault lines of society.**

Having spent a ground-breaking career studying the racialization, policing, and criminalization of HIV, Dr. Thrasher has come to understand a deeper truth at the heart of our society: that there are vast inequalities in who is able to survive viruses and that the ways in which viruses spread, kill, and take their toll are much more dependent on social structures than they are on biology alone.

Told through the heart-rending stories of friends, activists, and teachers navigating the novel coronavirus, HIV, and other viruses, Dr. Thrasher brings the reader with him as he delves into the viral underclass and lays bare its inner workings. In the tradition of Isabel Wilkerson's _Caste_ and Michelle Alexander's _The New Jim Crow_, _The Viral Underclass_ helps us understand the world more deeply by showing the fraught relationship between privilege and survival.

### Author Biography

**STEVEN W. THRASHER, PHD** holds the inaugural Daniel H. Renberg chair at Northwestern University's Medill School, the first journalism professorship in the world created to focus on LGBTQ research. He is also a faculty member of Northwestern's Institute of Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing. A columnist for _Scientific American_, his writing has been widely published by _The New York Times, Nation, The Atlantic, Journal of American History, BuzzFeed News, Esquire_ and _New York_. In 2019, _Out_ magazine named him one of the 100 most influential and impactful people of the year, and the Ford Foundation awarded him a grant for Creativity and Free Expression. An alumnus of media jobs with _Saturday Night Live_, the HBO film _The Laramie Project_ and the NPR StoryCorps project, Dr. Thrasher has also been a staff writer for _The Village Voice_ and a columnist for _The Guardian_. He holds a PhD in American Studies and divides his time between Chicago and New York. _The Viral Underclass_ is his first book. Twitter: @thrasherxy.

**Number of Pages:** 352

**Dimensions:** 1.2 x 9.45 x 6.41 IN

**Publication Date:** August 02, 2022

## Details

- **Price:** 29.99 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 29.99 USD | In stock |

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

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