Sacramento State One Book 2025-2026: Everything Is Tuberculosis

Conversation between John Green and Laurel Bristow, researcher at Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University.

Best-selling author John Green discusses his new book, 'Everything is Tuberculosis', which weaves together a TB patient's story with comprehensive insights into how the disease shapes our world.

Green explains how a 2019 visit to a TB hospital in Sierra Leone inspired the book, why tuberculosis persists despite having a cure for the disease since the 1950s, how DOGE cuts are affecting global aid and the need for political will, and the infection's connection to everything, from the cowboy hat to weighted vests.

In this episode: A conversation with John Green about why he chose to write about TB, the current state of public health and its challenges, and how the disease and its prevalence reflects so much back on us in terms of who we are as a society.

FRONTLINE presents an unforgettable portrait of the lives at the pandemic’s epicenter.

Archives reveal the "forgotten plague” that shaped Southern California: tuberculosis. Lost LA host Nathan Masters explores how California’s fresh air and sunshine drew "consumptives" to local sanatoriums as well as the stark realities of life as a TB patient. Featured interviews include USC’s William Deverell, the Los Angeles Times’ Patt Morrison and infectious disease specialist Dr. Brenda Jones.

Tuberculosis is often thought of as an old-timey disease, but in reality, it continues to kill over a million and a half people per year, despite its known cure. How did we get here, to a world where decades of work toward a cure stalled in its dissemination around the globe? And how can understanding the history of TB point us toward a different future? If you’ve been following author and TB-hater John Green in any way for the last year or so, this video is the deep dive you’ve been waiting for…

This drama film is based on real testimonies of TB patients. The story follows the lives of our characters as they journey from diagnosis to treatment and help from the SMRU TB team, and explores how each discovers their capacity to overcome the deadly disease and share their knowledge and experience with others. Made in the local language, this film provides an engaging and inspiring tool for raising TB awareness in the community.

In this paper, we describe the development of the film, “Under the Mask,” which follows the lives of three fictional characters who live on the Thai-Myanmar border as they journey from diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) to completion of treatment. Under the Mask was filmed on location on the Thai-Myanmar border by local filmmakers and former refugee populations. Cast members were chosen from communities living along the border. This paper describes the script development process, filming, and screening in the community. We also report the findings from the pre- and post-screening questionnaires and post-film focus group discussions.