<p>Originally written as a series of essays-cum-diary entries /Plague Year/ is a vivid personal chronicle of the first traumatic wave of the Covid pandemic in the nation's largest city. Beyond the merely personal Covid spurs a questioning of the whole commodity-driven American lifestyle. How much material stuff can we do without?...What do I value? What do I offer of value? Considering that we are animals who can't control ourselves is Nature now taking us in hand? Do we really have to start seeing dead bodies in the street before we can agree that this country can easily afford universal health care?</p><p> </p><p>Maintaining a deft balance of the personal and political /Plague Year New York 2020 /provides an engaging thought-provoking record of that strange and disturbing time the recent past.</p><p><strong> </strong><em> Ian Young Founder of Catalyst Press Writer Poet Editor</em></p>