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Everything Is Tuberculosis

The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection

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Everything Is Tuberculosis

By: John Green
Narrated by: John Green
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Brought to you by Penguin.

Tuberculosis has been entwined with humanity for millennia. Once romanticized as a malady of poets, today tuberculosis is a disease of poverty that walks the trails of injustice and inequity we blazed for it.

In 2019, John Green met Henry, a young tuberculosis patient at Lakka Government Hospital in Sierra Leone while traveling with Partners in Health. John became fast friends with Henry, a boy with spindly legs and a big, goofy smile. In the years since that first visit to Lakka, Green has become a vocal and dynamic advocate for increased access to treatment and wider awareness of the healthcare inequities that allow this curable, treatable infectious disease to also be the deadliest, killing 1.5 million people every year.

In Everything is Tuberculosis, John tells Henry’s story, woven through with the scientific and social histories of how tuberculosis has shaped our world and how our choices will shape the future of tuberculosis.

© John Green 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025

 Contagious Diseases History History & Philosophy Physical Illness & Disease Science Respiratory Disease Heartfelt Inspiring Thought-Provoking
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Critic reviews

Earnest and empathetic
Everything Is Tuberculosis doesn’t so much tell you the story of tuberculosis, as much as it gently holds your hand and parts the curtains into one of the darkest, most bizarre, and frustrating series of decisions in world history with the other... A quintessential John Green book: one that grapples with the issue of mortality and our conflicting desires to both help and hurt one another, all within the backdrop of the coming of age of a young man
Green uses the stories of real people to turn overwhelming problems into something personal and understandable.
This highly readable call to action could not be more timely
Henry’s story is hopeful and heartbreaking; readers will be rooting for him and his family the whole way through
Green writes expertly of the illness’s history, causes (malnutrition, poverty, bad sanitation, etc.), and cure… Insightful and extremely well and clearly written, Everything Is Tuberculosis makes what might be inaccessible accessible
In these challenging times, the global health community is fortunate to count on Green and his inspiring advocacy
A story of hope and tragedy that feels terribly relevant at a time when the global healthcare system is coming under attack.
An exceptional combination of memoir, medical history and cultural analysis…. Memorably probes the intersections of medicine and human emotion
All stars
Most relevant
I had my own "Is that still a thing?" moment when I came across this book. I'm left fascinated, horrified and hopeful for the future of TB. Brilliant narration from the author and very well written.

I hear you John... Polo!

Fascinating and Well Read

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The last few weeks have been difficult for those of us living in Europe. We have seen the present U.S. administration cut funding to aid in practically every developing country in the world that will have an impact on those countries’ ability to fight the “inequitable” (to quote John Green) battle against illnesses that could lead to many deaths and also the strengthening of resistant strains of killer diseases such as Tuberculosis and even Covid hat could spread to the developed world and threaten future mass deaths.
It is so good therefore to read through this excellent book that shows just how Tuberculosis has made such a large impact on human history, how we have fought to overcome it by scientific research and how we have the ability to keep deaths worldwide to a minimum but have chosen not to use the power we have to effect control over the illness by allowing money to dictate our actions.
I loved the way that Green uses the case of Henry a boy from Sierra Leone to show just how horrible this illness can be and you spend the whole book wondering about Henry’s fate. I will not give away what happens to Henry so as not to ruin the enjoyment of the book.
At one stage in the book Green talks about the “virtuous cycles” of events that allows rich countries such as the U.S. to support very poor countries such as Sierra Leone to provide the drugs that can help cure Tuberculosis . Unfortunately we seem to be in an “unvirtuous cycle” at the moment. John Green though is an example of a Virtuous American. He cares about all humanity and reading this book has shown me what America can be as a force for good in the world. Hopefully this will return sometime soon.
Green has a pleasant reading style and this is a thoroughly good listen that I strongly recommend.

The virtuous American

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What a fantastic book. A joy to listen to, a thorough and aware overview of the history of TB, alongside a compelling story arc of the contemporary reality of TB.

It is often difficult to consume media about contemporary issues like widespread disease and inequality, because it can be so depressing. Somehow, John has taken this reality and found the hope and the ways forward in the story.

John also does not center himself in this book at all, and yet I strongly suspect his part in Henry's story was extremely significant.

If TB does become a disease that no one dies from, within my or John Green's lifetime, I expect John Green will have had a lot to do with it.

Absolutely fantastic

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Good book chronicling both the modern issues with treatment of TB and the history of it as one of the oldest and most widespread serious human diseases. The audiobook was read by John Green who did it well. Would definitely recommend.

Would recommended

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This is a fascinating, thought provoking and very humane book. It is upsetting in places but so important that it needs to be read. The historical part is really interesting while the present day sections are enraging. We know terrible inequality exists in the world but it helps to be reminded of it no matter how painful that is. Only then can change occur. An important book.

Excellent.

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