The Consent of the Governed

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents vii
3. Introduction 1
4. Foundations
5. What Stories Will We Tell about COVID-19? 15
6. Liberty and Health? 22
7. Fear 27
8. The Economics of Illiberalism 32
9. How to Get Healthier and Wealthier during a Crisis 36
10. Decision-Making in an Age of Social Media 41
11. Borders in an Age of Pandemics 46
12. UFOs, COVID-19, and the Return of Radical Uncertainty 52
13. Why Do We Tell the Stories We Tell? 57
14. The History of Soccer, the Butterfly Effect, and Public Health 62
15. The Ongoing Challenge of Race 66
16. Not in the Name of Public Health 73
17. Health and the Opportunity to Think Freely 78
18. Thinking in Groups or Thinking for Ourselves: In Praise of Iconoclasm 83
19. The Challenge of Slow-Burning Threats 88
20. The Ineluctable Role of the Faceless Bureaucrat 93
21. Sectarianism and the Public’s Health 98
22. Health in an Era of Resurgent Great Power Conflict 103
23. “For Our Own Good” 109
24. Heresies
25. Why Health? 117
26. The Spherical Cow Problem 121
27. Public Health and the Temptations of Power 126
28. Not Our Place 131
29. The Radical Importance of Acknowledging Progress 135
30. Who’s Left? 139
31. Too Far, or Not Far Enough? 144
32. A Case against Moralism in Public Health 149
33. Resisting the Allure of Moral Grandstanding 154
34. Resisting Our Suburban Impulses 159
35. Resisting Our Suburban Impulses 164
36. We Need to Talk about Class 171
37. Public Health and Tradition 176
38. My Bias in Favor of Living 180
39. Hopes
40. Mercy and Our Present Moment 185
41. A Case for Good Faith Argument 192
42. “One Does Have Joys” 197
43. Playbook for Balancing the Moral and Empirical Cases for Health 201
44. The False Choice of Diversity and Inclusion versus the Pursuit of Excellence 206
45. Our Place in the Natural Order of Things 211
46. What Do We Want from Our Political System? 215
47. The Role of Experts and Community Voices Both 220
48. The Aesthetics of a Healthier World 224
49. Intellectual Cross-Training toward a Healthier World 229
50. The Incredible Potential of New Technology 233
51. The Consent of the Governed 237
52. Spending Smarter 242
53. A Populist Public Health 247
54. In Praise of Objective Reality 252
55. The Next Generation: The Kids Are (Probably) All Right 256
56. In Conclusion
57. Toward a Liberal Public Health 261
58. Acknowledgments 267
59. Index 269