Everything Is Tuberculosis Study Guide

John Green was born on August 24, 1977, to Mike and Sydney Green. He is one of two children. Soon after his birth, his family moved to Orlando, Florida, where Green attended middle school. In his teenage years, he attended Indian Springs School outside of Birmingham, Alabama. Though his childhood was largely positive, he suffered from anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and bullying during his adolescence. After he graduated high school, he attended Kenyon College, where he received degrees in English and religious studies. He then worked as a chaplain at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, and though he planned to become an Episcopal priest, his experience with children inspired him to become a writer. While working as an editorial assistant at Booklist, Green wrote his first novel Looking for Alaska, which was published in 2005. The book was a massive success, and he went on to write An Abundance of Katherines, Paper Towns, and The Fault in Our Stars. His popularity continued to rise as he gained an internet presence thanks to the YouTube channel he founded with his brother Hank. In addition to writing, he’s become an advocate for mental health and tuberculosis awareness. In 2021, he published his first nonfiction book, The Anthropocene Reviewed. He currently lives with his wife Sarah and their two children in Indianapolis.

As Green emphasizes, the history of tuberculosis is indelibly tied to other major moments in history. European nations’ history of colonialism, for example, continues to affect how tuberculosis is treated in low- and middle-income countries today. Because these countries’ economies were so tied to their colonizers, who exploited their resources for their own growth, they were unable to restructure their economies when they gained independence. This has led to modern-day poverty, meaning there is little healthcare funding available to citizens. Just as important in the history of tuberculosis is the Industrial Revolution. Beginning in the mid-18th century, the Industrial Revolution consisted of improvements in machinery and architecture, allowing for more efficient production of material goods. With these improvements came extreme population growth and the burgeoning existence of the middle class. It became common for workers to live and work in poor conditions, where there was little room or ventilation, which led to a rise in tuberculosis infections in working class populations. Industrialization thus fueled the destruction of TB and influenced social understandings of the disease.

Prior to writing Everything is Tuberculosis, Green published one other nonfiction book titled The Anthropocene Reviewed. Like Everything is Tuberculosis, Green’s first foray into non-fiction explores humanity’s impact on the world, though it is more focused on biodiversity than health and disease. In terms of other authors’ works, Sheila Rothman’s book Living in the Shadow of Death similarly explores tuberculosis through the lens of sociology and attempts to highlight the human beings who were infected with the disease in the late 19th century. Other books tackle more specific moments in the history of tuberculosis, such as Chasing the Cure in New Mexico by Nancy Owen Lewis—a book that examines how tuberculosis created the foundations for New Mexico’s current healthcare system. Finally, other books, such as Health, Illness, and Society by Steven Barkan and Medical Power and Social Knowledge by Bryan Turner, explore the intersections of medicine and sociology more broadly, looking at TB as well as other diseases.