A review by hannahstohelit
Inside the Outbreaks: The Elite Medical Detectives of the Epidemic Intelligence Service by Mark Pendergrast

4.25

Very interesting, as someone who always finds this kind of thing fascinating. I prefer the Berton Roueche-style longer-form articles that explain the process behind these kinds of investigations, and some of these felt very abrupt, but I did appreciate the number of stories and the unfolding story of medical detection and advancement at the same time. It could be dense but I enjoy dense. One issue, though, is that there was very little non-EIS context given, so that it could be hard to really gain an understanding of what the people in the places that the EIS officers served in really thought, or were really like, and some description is a bit over the top in a somewhat exoticizing way with relatively little sociological or cultural context given. Everything is essentially seen through the eyes of the EIS, which is fair enough but does mean we get less understanding of broader issues than would probably be helpful.