Discordant Pandemic Narratives in the U.S.,edited by Shing-Ling S. Chen and Nicole Allaire, is a well-organized collection of nine tightly written and informative essays by over a dozen scholars, examining various responses to a medical crisis. This collection seamlessly blends contemporary political discourse with an emphasis on narrative research. It not only consists of precise analysis of complex forms of storytelling by people in positions of power, but provides insightful, definitive, and eye-opening accounts of how crisis communication styles become constructed, maintained, and mediated across space and time.

Michael Katovich, Texas Christian University

Why is it that, despite our vaunted health care system, America has suffered more deaths from COVID-19 than any other nation? The insightful studies that compose this book show us how discordant forms of communication led to America’s chaotic and ineffective response to the pandemic. With careful writing and persuasive analysis ranging across the fault lines of public discourse—freedom versus community, economy versus public health, science versus disinformation—these findings offer the hope that we can one day extricate ourselves from this epidemic and prepare for the next one.

Michael Flaherty, Eckerd College and University of South Florida

Discordant Pandemic Narratives in the U.S. is a vital, timely examination of the battling public narratives and story frames surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic in American sociopolitical discourse. The contributing authors detail how conflicting perspectives on the pandemic, as well as government and health institutions’ efforts to combat it, fostered uncertainty, misinformation, and cynicism in a public arena already riven by sociocultural fault-lines. Ultimately, Discordant Pandemic Narratives in the U.S. shows how these conditions disrupted the public health response to COVID-19 and resulted in a higher death toll for the U.S.

Jeffery T. Ulmer, Penn State University

Discordant Pandemic Narratives in the U.S. edited by Shing-Ling S. Chen and Nicole Allaire offers an intriguing perspective on what they label the 'discordant narratives' produced in the responses to COVID-19 in the United States. This book is a collection of interesting essays that examine these responses from multiple perspectives starting with the economy vs. public health, mask and vaccine mandates, and religious leaders’ responses and moving through the initial 'othering' of the virus, the ahistorical media coverage, and the differing responses from the NFL and NBA, then concluding with the opposing audiences of the President’s messages and the analysis of a conspiracy viral video. By applying a narrative perspective to multiple discords, this book offers a thought-provoking exploration of how the acrimonious US responses to the COVID-19 pandemic led to the unconscionable death toll in this country.

Lainey Jenks, West Chester University