A book about the world’s deadliest infectious disease is probably not high up on many people’s to-read lists, but this is exactly what John Green wants to change with his latest non-fiction work, Everything is Tuberculosis, published on 18 March 2025.
Tuberculosis (commonly abbreviated to TB) is a bacterial disease that primarily affects the lungs. It is an ancient illness that persists today. The latest figures from the World Health Organization estimate that 10.8 million people fell ill with TB in 2023 and, despite it being a curable disease, 1.25 million people died. It’s often difficult to grasp the extent and devastation of numbers like these—especially in this modern age of antibiotics and advanced hospitals—but Green provides the necessary human context: “That year, in fact, more people died of TB than died of malaria, typhoid, and war combined.” This grounding is vital, as tuberculosis is not typically in the zeitgeist for readers in countries where TB is no longer commonplace.
Despite its well-researched statistics and interviews with TB researchers and doctors, Everything is Tuberculosis is far from a tedious textbook of medical facts. The book is largely an ode to Henry—a teenage boy who is defined by his endearing personality rather than his TB diagnosis who Green met in 2019 while he was visiting Sierra Leone. Henry’s story, navigating expensive treatment and social stigma over the course of many years, forms the backbone of the book. Interwoven with his personal journey are stories of the history and politics that have shaped tuberculosis—from the development of antibiotics and the rise of drug resistance to the way high-income countries have all but eliminated the disease within their borders, while still hoarding vital medicines—to fascinating, lesser-known anecdotes that validate the book’s title: like how TB influenced New Mexico’s US statehood, the design of the cowboy hat, and even female beauty standards.
The result is an educational and emotional account of a disease that affects the world’s poorest populations and causes a range of elusive and diverse symptoms. It marks a departure for John Green, who is better known for his young adult fiction, with The Fault in Our Stars (2012) being his most famous novel. He has retained this young adult style, and his YouTuber persona is evident throughout, making this 208-page non-fiction book highly readable, even for those with no medical or scientific background.
The publication of Everything is Tuberculosis is timely. Just a week before its release, the Trump Administration announced major funding cuts to health programmes, with TB care and research taking a significant hit. The United States government has historically provided around one quarter of global TB funding, and the impact of these cuts is expected to be catastrophic—leading to preventable deaths, treatment interruptions, and a rise in drug-resistant TB.
Green’s book advocates powerfully for renewed investment in TB research and care—not just financially, but in terms of public attention, compassion, and political will. Tuberculosis is a profoundly unjust disease: it thrives in poverty and has been largely ignored by wealthy nations who consider it a problem of the past—or of somewhere else. As Green writes, “TB doesn’t just flow through the meandering river of injustice; TB broadens and deepens that river.” Through Henry’s story, Everything is Tuberculosis confronts this injustice head-on, reminding readers that TB is not a relic of history but a present-day crisis. And while it may not dominate headlines or trends, it should be on the radar of people worldwide—because, as Green makes clear, until TB matters to everyone, it won’t be meaningfully addressed.
Words by Rebecca Barksby
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