Join Us for Inaugural Alumni Book Club Event

Claire first read the book two years ago as part of another book club she formed early on in the pandemic, and she is glad for the chance to share the book’s resonating impact with the broader Indian Springs community.

“Reading it stirred emotions I hadn’t fully processed at the time,” Claire said. “What struck me most was the authors’ perspective, recording events in real time without the benefit of hindsight, while I read with the knowledge of what would come next. That contrast made the experience both haunting and fascinating.”

Margaret is also looking forward to the book club, eager to reconnect with Indian Springs alums while revisiting questions she and Erik raised in the book.

“It is always a joy to talk about any book with smart people,” Margaret said. “It has been five years since the pandemic upended the world. I am curious to see how we talk about that experience now and if there were observations that Erik and I made in 2020 that still hold.” 

Written in real time during the COVID-19 pandemic, A Deeper Sickness was written as an unfiltered eyewitness account to historical events, and the authors, both historians at the University of Alabama, were inspired by the historical moment as well as the historical context of other similar books. It was also, for Erik, a way to find meaning and make sense of time.

“Writing a book was initially driven by curiosity and (probably twisted) professional interest, and then became a helpful and meaningful way to make time in our ‘universal Blursday,’” Erik said, referring to the timeless confusion of the early days of the pandemic. “I was also inspired by two very old books: Daniel Defoe’s Journal of a Plague Year (1722) and Frederick Allen’s Only Yesterday (1930). These books are just about the closest we can get to time travel.”

Co-authoring a book during a pandemic and about a pandemic brought both challenges and insights: Margaret and Erik used a unique writing process that allowed them to alternate between absorbing and reflecting on the news. 

“Margaret and I eventually figured out that one of us had to be the ‘watcher’ of the day and the other person the ‘paver,’ Erik said. “The watcher had to have on multiple TV channels and radio stations at a time to cover the day, along with social media feeds, news websites, and blogs—it was like drinking out of multiple firehouses. Then the paver came in and tried to smooth it into an actual narrative, keeping a consistent voice throughout—paving the path into a road. It was exhausting, truly.” 

For Margaret, the process of becoming a writer and historian started here at Indian Springs, where she began “understanding the seriousness of the historical endeavor–thanks to Dr. Bob Cooper.” 

“I learned to be a careful, critical, skeptical thinker at Springs,” Margaret said. “These skills created the platform upon which my development as a historian was founded. For all of my books, this careful, data-driven approach to understanding and answering difficult questions has been vital.”

Claire also mentioned Dr. Cooper’s inspiration during her time at Indian Springs—and thought of him as she finished reading the book.

“Without giving too much away, I’ll say that after finishing the book, I felt ready to tackle a Dr. Cooper-style final essay exploring the political, religious, economic, and societal implications of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Claire said. “I would count A Deeper Sickness among the most important books I’ve read in the past five years.” 

We hope you’ll join us on November 6.

Don’t miss this powerful reflection on a historic moment in America–space is limited, so RSVP today by emailing peggy.fleetwood@indiansprings.org or calling 205.332.0610 during school hours.

Grab your copy of the book at Thank You Books here in Birmingham or at your favorite retailer.

Learn more about the book: https://adhc.lib.ua.edu/pandemicbook/