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2020: One City, Seven People, and the Year Everything Changed

Description:

A meticulously reported, character-driven, unforgettable investigation of a time when nothing was certain and everything was at stake, by the acclaimed sociologist and best-selling author Eric Klinenberg

“A gripping, deeply moving account of a signal year in modern history, told through the stories of seven ordinary people. Klinenberg’s narrative shows how the legacy of that year continues to shape us, our politics and our personal lives.”—Siddhartha Mukherjee, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Emperor of All Maladies • "I can easily see this book being invaluable in the future."—Stuart Miller, Los Angeles Times

2020 will go down alongside 1914, 1929, and 1968 as one of the most consequential years in history. This riveting and affecting book is the first attempt to capture the full human experience of that fateful time.

At the heart of 2020 are seven vivid profiles of ordinary New Yorkers—including an elementary school principal, a bar manager, a subway custodian, and a local political aide—whose experiences illuminate how Americans, andpeople across the globe, reckoned with 2020. Through these poignant stories, we revisit our own moments of hope and fear, the profound tragedies and losses in our communities, the mutual aid networks that brought us together, and the social movements that hinted at the possibilities of a better world.

Eric Klinenberg vividly captures these stories, casting them against the backdrop of a high-stakes presidential election, a surge of misinformation, rising distrust, and raging protests. We move from the epicenter in New York City to Washington and London, where political leaders made the crisis so much more lethal than it had to be. We bear witness to epidemiological battles in Wuhan and Beijing, along with the initiatives of scientists, citizens, and policy makers in Australia, Japan, and Taiwan, who worked together to save lives.

Klinenberg allows us to see 2020—and, ultimately, ourselves—with unprecedented clarity and empathy. His book not only helps us reckon with what we lived through, but also with the challenges we face before the next crisis arrives.

"A masterful piece of rigorous journalism, rigorous sociology, and incredible story-telling."—Chris Hayes, MSNBC News
Read more

Editorial Reviews

Review

"In Eric Klinenberg’s excellent 2020, we are given both micro-incident—closely reported scenes from the lives of representative New Yorkers struggling through the plague year—and macro-comment: cross-cultural, overarching chapters assess broader social forces . . . Throughout, Klinenberg’s mixture of closeup witness and broad-view sociology is engrossing, and reminds this reader of the late Howard S. Becker’s insistence that the best sociology is always, in the first instance, wide-angle reporting. As we flow effortlessly from big picture to small, we learn from both."
—Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker

"2020 is...a masterful piece of rigorous journalism, rigorous sociology, and incredible story-telling."
—Chris Hayes, MSNBC News

"Covers an extraordinarily rich range of issues and insights, some of them familiar, others utterly fresh...One of the most striking expressions of America’s political brokenness that I’ve yet encountered."
—Rick Perlstein, The American Prospect

“2020 reshaped our politics, unveiled cracks in our society and transformed the ways we work, live, and interact with each other. But we’ve never really reckoned with those changes. Eric Klinenberg has just released a wonderful book…that unpacks the ways that terrible year revealed what we value and changed how we interact. A beautiful book and one that, despite my initial anxiety, I’m really happy to have read.”
—Jon Favreau,Host ofPod Save America

"By bridging the gaps between individual, community and population, [Klinenberg] shows how pandemics alter society and exacerbate inequality. He follows the threads that connect the individual lived experience to the national phenomenon." 
—Laura Spinney, New Statesman

"I can easily see this book being invaluable in the future."
—Stuart Miller, Los Angeles Times

"Elegantly written and well researched."
—The Economist

"When I think 2020, I think blur: social unrest, economic turbulence, all amplified and fueled by a world-historical pandemic. As someone who teaches at a public health school, I’ve wondered for a while what a book that successfully captured that year would look like. Eric Klinenberg’s 2020: One City, Seven People, and the Year Everything Changed is that book. It’s written with the critical distance we need to finally get our heads around it; the deep research to make it more than armchair analysis; and the ambitious sweep that brings fractured threads together."
—Merlin Chowkwanyun, Public Books

"Remarkable . . . full of intriguing insights."
—Literary Review

"A call for thought and planning—and a shaming. Klinenberg...tells a factual story, of course. But the unexpectedly moving trick he pulls off—the way he humanizes statistics alternately chilling and numbing—is by writing profiles of seven New Yorkers grappling with the disease, both at work and at home."
—Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“A gripping, deeply moving account of a signal year in modern history, told through the stories of seven ordinary people trying to survive at the epicenter of the crisis. Klinenberg’s narrative not only exposes the social fault lines that made 2020 epically traumatic but also shows how the legacy of that year continues to shape us, our politics and our personal lives.”
—Siddhartha Mukherjee, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Emperor of All Maladies

“In 2020, Eric Klinenberg explores the meaning and impact of the pandemic through the experiences of seven New Yorkers who lived through it. The result is a book that's at once intimate and far-ranging, a work that reveals the importance of social solidarity and also its fragility.”
―Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sixth Extinction

“A sociological investigation of an unforgettable year. Klinenberg profiles a radicalized bar manager, a determined school principal, and a cast of Americans whose stories reveal how 2020 reshaped life in the United States. By asking fresh questions—Why did crime and social division spike in the U.S. but not elsewhere? How did masks get so politicized?—2020 compellingly reveals what the pandemic laid bare about our culture, our institutions, and ourselves.“
—Matthew Desmond, best-selling author of Poverty, by America and Evicted

"Klinenberg...compiles a superb 'social autopsy' of turbulent 2020, investigating how institutions, societies, and political leadership cracked....This exceptional discussion of the chaos and catastrophe of COVID-19 ranks alongside Lawrence Wright's The Plague Year (2021) as essential reading on the subject. Let's hope that the experience of 2020 has bestowed upon us 20/20 lucidity, resolve, and solidarity moving forward."
—Booklist, Starred Review

"Rigorously researched....[Klinenberg] pays tribute to people’s resilience and generous responses in the face of terrible odds, via profiles of seven individuals....Engrossing, this book captures the lingering uncertainty that has characterized the COVID pandemic, while assessing its global effects and likely future challenges. This vital title has breadth."
—Library Journal, Starred Review

“Riveting…a vivid and nuanced account.”
—Publishers Weekly

About the Author

ERIC KLINENBERG is the Helen Gould Shepard Professor in the Social Sciences and director of the Institute for Public Knowledge at New York University. He is the coauthor of the #1 New York Times bestseller Modern Romance and author of Palaces for the People, Going Solo, Heat Wave, and Fighting for Air. He has contributed to The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, Rolling Stone, Wired, and This American Life. He lives in New York City.

Reviews:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Comprehensive Look at 2020, the Pandemic

L.R. · March 9, 2024

This is a really good book. Not a fun read. Not lighthearted. But it is a great read. It is a comprehensive look at the year we'd all like to forget, but definitely shouldn't. In addition to the very human, real stories shared by individuals from very different backgrounds and social status, Eric Klinenberg provides information and insight into what went right, and what went so very wrong. The best thing about this in-depth, thorough review of one of the most impactful years of our lives, is that it is shared without bias, without prejudice, and without judgment. Honest and raw... a great read.

4.0 out of 5 stars It was the best plagues, it was the worst of plagues.

D.B. · May 26, 2024

I loved that it was focused in New York. I equally despised it for the same reason. I grant that Eric K linen berg made a respectable choice, and it approached with care. Also he is dedicated to covering global impact. In a hundred years from now I suspect people will benefit from this book. Read with care.

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant and highly readable revision of the COVID pandemic experience

t.f. · February 25, 2024

This book is an essential read for all of us who lived through the COVID pandemic and still are not quite clear on what it all meant--in other words, everybody. Prominent sociologist Eric Kleinenberg is an insightful reporter who uses personal stories to bring to life much of the confusion and suffering we all shared. We all know what happened; this book helps you understand many of the reasons why. You will never think about COVID in the same way again.

5.0 out of 5 stars Should be required reading

w. · February 3, 2025

This comprehensive account of the year that affected seven ordinary people is a story of all of us. We all have known people who struggled with the virus, and those who lost a loved one. I wondered at times at the leadership and why crime and social division was so prevalent in the U.S. I remember a man who in spite of everyone in a supermarket wearing masks, he strolled in, maskless and defiant with a dare you to say anything to me look on his face. I just wanted to get through the pandemic without getting sick, and if I did, I wanted to be able to survive it. I assume social solidarity was not a high point for him at the time. This book is one that I will place on my bookshelf to refer to from time to time. Highly recommended.

5.0 out of 5 stars Cathartic and depressing at same time

n. · March 16, 2024

I am really enjoying this book. Over half way done. It is helping me come to grips with what happened. But it also saddens me because there was so much more we could have done to save people from dying from COVID. Two things that really amazed me: people were not fighting to GET the vaccine and people were fighting not to wear masks. As a scientist, I find this clear disregard of the data, well, to quote Spock, "Highly illogical".

5.0 out of 5 stars A brilliant retrospective

D. · March 25, 2024

This book was brilliantly conceived, researched, and written. Very readable but infinitely disturbing. Well worth the read.

2.0 out of 5 stars Very left wing

A. · October 22, 2025

Not so much about COVID itself, but the liberal ideologies of how it all played out. If you’re a conservative, this book will more likely than not make you angry, and not about the actual virus but how liberals controlled the whole thing.

5.0 out of 5 stars A Warning

A.C. · April 13, 2024

Will our democratic leadership rise to the challenge of the next pandemic?A reminder of what happened in 2020 and why we need to remember what happened and the cost of failed leadership.

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2020: One City, Seven People, and the Year Everything Changed

Product ID: U0593319486
Condition: New

4.4

AED10634

Price includes VAT & Import Duties
Type: Hardcover
Availability: In Stock

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Order today to get by 7-14 business days

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Imported From: United States

At BOLO, we work hard to ensure the products you receive are new, genuine, and sourced from reputable suppliers.

BOLO is not an authorized or official retailer for most brands, nor are we affiliated with manufacturers unless specifically stated on a product page. Instead, we source verified sellers, authorized distributors or directly from the manufacturer.

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Unless otherwise stated, all prices displayed on the product page include applicable taxes and import duties.

BOLO operates in accordance with the laws and regulations of United Arab Emirates. Any items found to be restricted or prohibited for sale within the UAE will be cancelled prior to shipment. We take proactive measures to ensure that only products permitted for sale in United Arab Emirates are listed on our website.

All items are shipped by air, and any products classified as “Dangerous Goods (DG)” under IATA regulations will be removed from the order and cancelled.

All orders are processed manually, and we make every effort to process them promptly once confirmed. Products cancelled due to the above reasons will be permanently removed from listings across the website.

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Visit the Knopf Store

2020: One City, Seven People, and the Year Everything Changed

Product ID: U0593319486
Condition: New

4.4

2020: One City, Seven People, and the Year Everything Changed-0
Type: Hardcover

AED10634

Price includes VAT & Import Duties
Availability: In Stock

Quantity:

|

Order today to get by 7-14 business days

Delivery fee of AED 20. Free for orders above AED 200.

Returns & Warranty policies

Imported From: United States

At BOLO, we work hard to ensure the products you receive are new, genuine, and sourced from reputable suppliers.

BOLO is not an authorized or official retailer for most brands, nor are we affiliated with manufacturers unless specifically stated on a product page. Instead, we source verified sellers, authorized distributors or directly from the manufacturer.

Each product undergoes thorough inspection and verification at our consolidation and fulfilment centers to ensure it meets our strict authenticity and quality standards before being shipped and delivered to you.

If you ever have concerns regarding the authenticity of a product purchased from us, please contact Bolo Support. We will review your inquiry promptly and, if necessary, provide documentation verifying authenticity or offer a suitable resolution.

Your trust is our top priority, and we are committed to maintaining transparency and integrity in every transaction.

All product information, images, descriptions, and reviews originate from the manufacturer or from trusted sellers overseas. BOLO is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or an authorized retailer for most brands listed on our website unless stated otherwise.

While we strive to display accurate information, variations in packaging, labeling, instructions, or formulation may occasionally occur due to regional differences or supplier updates. For detailed or manufacturer-specific information, please contact the brand directly or reach out to BOLO Support for assistance.

Unless otherwise stated, all prices displayed on the product page include applicable taxes and import duties.

BOLO operates in accordance with the laws and regulations of United Arab Emirates. Any items found to be restricted or prohibited for sale within the UAE will be cancelled prior to shipment. We take proactive measures to ensure that only products permitted for sale in United Arab Emirates are listed on our website.

All items are shipped by air, and any products classified as “Dangerous Goods (DG)” under IATA regulations will be removed from the order and cancelled.

All orders are processed manually, and we make every effort to process them promptly once confirmed. Products cancelled due to the above reasons will be permanently removed from listings across the website.

Description:

A meticulously reported, character-driven, unforgettable investigation of a time when nothing was certain and everything was at stake, by the acclaimed sociologist and best-selling author Eric Klinenberg

“A gripping, deeply moving account of a signal year in modern history, told through the stories of seven ordinary people. Klinenberg’s narrative shows how the legacy of that year continues to shape us, our politics and our personal lives.”—Siddhartha Mukherjee, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Emperor of All Maladies • "I can easily see this book being invaluable in the future."—Stuart Miller, Los Angeles Times

2020 will go down alongside 1914, 1929, and 1968 as one of the most consequential years in history. This riveting and affecting book is the first attempt to capture the full human experience of that fateful time.

At the heart of 2020 are seven vivid profiles of ordinary New Yorkers—including an elementary school principal, a bar manager, a subway custodian, and a local political aide—whose experiences illuminate how Americans, andpeople across the globe, reckoned with 2020. Through these poignant stories, we revisit our own moments of hope and fear, the profound tragedies and losses in our communities, the mutual aid networks that brought us together, and the social movements that hinted at the possibilities of a better world.

Eric Klinenberg vividly captures these stories, casting them against the backdrop of a high-stakes presidential election, a surge of misinformation, rising distrust, and raging protests. We move from the epicenter in New York City to Washington and London, where political leaders made the crisis so much more lethal than it had to be. We bear witness to epidemiological battles in Wuhan and Beijing, along with the initiatives of scientists, citizens, and policy makers in Australia, Japan, and Taiwan, who worked together to save lives.

Klinenberg allows us to see 2020—and, ultimately, ourselves—with unprecedented clarity and empathy. His book not only helps us reckon with what we lived through, but also with the challenges we face before the next crisis arrives.

"A masterful piece of rigorous journalism, rigorous sociology, and incredible story-telling."—Chris Hayes, MSNBC News
Read more

Editorial Reviews

Review

"In Eric Klinenberg’s excellent 2020, we are given both micro-incident—closely reported scenes from the lives of representative New Yorkers struggling through the plague year—and macro-comment: cross-cultural, overarching chapters assess broader social forces . . . Throughout, Klinenberg’s mixture of closeup witness and broad-view sociology is engrossing, and reminds this reader of the late Howard S. Becker’s insistence that the best sociology is always, in the first instance, wide-angle reporting. As we flow effortlessly from big picture to small, we learn from both."
—Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker

"2020 is...a masterful piece of rigorous journalism, rigorous sociology, and incredible story-telling."
—Chris Hayes, MSNBC News

"Covers an extraordinarily rich range of issues and insights, some of them familiar, others utterly fresh...One of the most striking expressions of America’s political brokenness that I’ve yet encountered."
—Rick Perlstein, The American Prospect

“2020 reshaped our politics, unveiled cracks in our society and transformed the ways we work, live, and interact with each other. But we’ve never really reckoned with those changes. Eric Klinenberg has just released a wonderful book…that unpacks the ways that terrible year revealed what we value and changed how we interact. A beautiful book and one that, despite my initial anxiety, I’m really happy to have read.”
—Jon Favreau,Host ofPod Save America

"By bridging the gaps between individual, community and population, [Klinenberg] shows how pandemics alter society and exacerbate inequality. He follows the threads that connect the individual lived experience to the national phenomenon." 
—Laura Spinney, New Statesman

"I can easily see this book being invaluable in the future."
—Stuart Miller, Los Angeles Times

"Elegantly written and well researched."
—The Economist

"When I think 2020, I think blur: social unrest, economic turbulence, all amplified and fueled by a world-historical pandemic. As someone who teaches at a public health school, I’ve wondered for a while what a book that successfully captured that year would look like. Eric Klinenberg’s 2020: One City, Seven People, and the Year Everything Changed is that book. It’s written with the critical distance we need to finally get our heads around it; the deep research to make it more than armchair analysis; and the ambitious sweep that brings fractured threads together."
—Merlin Chowkwanyun, Public Books

"Remarkable . . . full of intriguing insights."
—Literary Review

"A call for thought and planning—and a shaming. Klinenberg...tells a factual story, of course. But the unexpectedly moving trick he pulls off—the way he humanizes statistics alternately chilling and numbing—is by writing profiles of seven New Yorkers grappling with the disease, both at work and at home."
—Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“A gripping, deeply moving account of a signal year in modern history, told through the stories of seven ordinary people trying to survive at the epicenter of the crisis. Klinenberg’s narrative not only exposes the social fault lines that made 2020 epically traumatic but also shows how the legacy of that year continues to shape us, our politics and our personal lives.”
—Siddhartha Mukherjee, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Emperor of All Maladies

“In 2020, Eric Klinenberg explores the meaning and impact of the pandemic through the experiences of seven New Yorkers who lived through it. The result is a book that's at once intimate and far-ranging, a work that reveals the importance of social solidarity and also its fragility.”
―Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sixth Extinction

“A sociological investigation of an unforgettable year. Klinenberg profiles a radicalized bar manager, a determined school principal, and a cast of Americans whose stories reveal how 2020 reshaped life in the United States. By asking fresh questions—Why did crime and social division spike in the U.S. but not elsewhere? How did masks get so politicized?—2020 compellingly reveals what the pandemic laid bare about our culture, our institutions, and ourselves.“
—Matthew Desmond, best-selling author of Poverty, by America and Evicted

"Klinenberg...compiles a superb 'social autopsy' of turbulent 2020, investigating how institutions, societies, and political leadership cracked....This exceptional discussion of the chaos and catastrophe of COVID-19 ranks alongside Lawrence Wright's The Plague Year (2021) as essential reading on the subject. Let's hope that the experience of 2020 has bestowed upon us 20/20 lucidity, resolve, and solidarity moving forward."
—Booklist, Starred Review

"Rigorously researched....[Klinenberg] pays tribute to people’s resilience and generous responses in the face of terrible odds, via profiles of seven individuals....Engrossing, this book captures the lingering uncertainty that has characterized the COVID pandemic, while assessing its global effects and likely future challenges. This vital title has breadth."
—Library Journal, Starred Review

“Riveting…a vivid and nuanced account.”
—Publishers Weekly

About the Author

ERIC KLINENBERG is the Helen Gould Shepard Professor in the Social Sciences and director of the Institute for Public Knowledge at New York University. He is the coauthor of the #1 New York Times bestseller Modern Romance and author of Palaces for the People, Going Solo, Heat Wave, and Fighting for Air. He has contributed to The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, Rolling Stone, Wired, and This American Life. He lives in New York City.

Reviews:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Comprehensive Look at 2020, the Pandemic

L.R. · March 9, 2024

This is a really good book. Not a fun read. Not lighthearted. But it is a great read. It is a comprehensive look at the year we'd all like to forget, but definitely shouldn't. In addition to the very human, real stories shared by individuals from very different backgrounds and social status, Eric Klinenberg provides information and insight into what went right, and what went so very wrong. The best thing about this in-depth, thorough review of one of the most impactful years of our lives, is that it is shared without bias, without prejudice, and without judgment. Honest and raw... a great read.

4.0 out of 5 stars It was the best plagues, it was the worst of plagues.

D.B. · May 26, 2024

I loved that it was focused in New York. I equally despised it for the same reason. I grant that Eric K linen berg made a respectable choice, and it approached with care. Also he is dedicated to covering global impact. In a hundred years from now I suspect people will benefit from this book. Read with care.

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant and highly readable revision of the COVID pandemic experience

t.f. · February 25, 2024

This book is an essential read for all of us who lived through the COVID pandemic and still are not quite clear on what it all meant--in other words, everybody. Prominent sociologist Eric Kleinenberg is an insightful reporter who uses personal stories to bring to life much of the confusion and suffering we all shared. We all know what happened; this book helps you understand many of the reasons why. You will never think about COVID in the same way again.

5.0 out of 5 stars Should be required reading

w. · February 3, 2025

This comprehensive account of the year that affected seven ordinary people is a story of all of us. We all have known people who struggled with the virus, and those who lost a loved one. I wondered at times at the leadership and why crime and social division was so prevalent in the U.S. I remember a man who in spite of everyone in a supermarket wearing masks, he strolled in, maskless and defiant with a dare you to say anything to me look on his face. I just wanted to get through the pandemic without getting sick, and if I did, I wanted to be able to survive it. I assume social solidarity was not a high point for him at the time. This book is one that I will place on my bookshelf to refer to from time to time. Highly recommended.

5.0 out of 5 stars Cathartic and depressing at same time

n. · March 16, 2024

I am really enjoying this book. Over half way done. It is helping me come to grips with what happened. But it also saddens me because there was so much more we could have done to save people from dying from COVID. Two things that really amazed me: people were not fighting to GET the vaccine and people were fighting not to wear masks. As a scientist, I find this clear disregard of the data, well, to quote Spock, "Highly illogical".

5.0 out of 5 stars A brilliant retrospective

D. · March 25, 2024

This book was brilliantly conceived, researched, and written. Very readable but infinitely disturbing. Well worth the read.

2.0 out of 5 stars Very left wing

A. · October 22, 2025

Not so much about COVID itself, but the liberal ideologies of how it all played out. If you’re a conservative, this book will more likely than not make you angry, and not about the actual virus but how liberals controlled the whole thing.

5.0 out of 5 stars A Warning

A.C. · April 13, 2024

Will our democratic leadership rise to the challenge of the next pandemic?A reminder of what happened in 2020 and why we need to remember what happened and the cost of failed leadership.

More from this brand

Similar items from “Epidemiology”

Share with

Or share with link

https://www.bolo.ae/products/U0593319486