Green became interested in tuberculosis on a visit to Sierra Leone with Partners In Health in 2019, where he became aware that it was not "a problem of the past" but an ongoing global issue despite being curable. He spent several years engaging with experts and learning about the disease, speaking about it before the United Nations in 2023. That year, he also rallied his audience to petition Johnson & Johnson and Cepheid to ease access to the tuberculosis treatment bedaquiline and rapid diagnostic testing for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, respectively, which both companies did.[2][1]
Summary and release
Henry, a young tuberculosis patient profiled by Green in the book, shown at 16 (left) and four years later (right) after a new treatment regimen.
Green described the book as "a history of human responses to tuberculosis intertwined with a contemporary story of one person's experience", that person being Henry, a young tuberculosis patient Green met in 2019 in Sierra Leone who shares his son's name.[2][6][7] He announced the book's title, Everything Is Tuberculosis, on October 22, 2024.[8] The cover was designed by Grace Han, who also designed the cover for The Anthropocene Reviewed.[9][10]
It was officially released on March 18, 2025 through Crash Course Books, a new imprint of Penguin Young Readers that is an extension of the educational YouTube series Crash Course. The first run was announced to be 500,000 copies, of which Green signed 100,000.[11][12][2][8][13] Green also narrated the audiobook version.[12] Green went on a book tour in support of the book's release, starting in his hometown of Indianapolis.[14][11]
Reception
The book was well received and sold well. Kirkus Reviews gave the book a starred review, saying, "This highly readable call to action could not be more timely."[15]Booklist and School Library Journal also gave the book starred reviews.[16][17]AP News reviewed the book, calling it "reflective and earnest [...] Little nuggets of personalization consistently bring us back to our shared humanity."[18] In an overall positive review, The AV Club stated that "while Green provides a great general analysis of why the disease tests our very humanity, it's easy to be left wanting more."[19]Library Journal called the book, "An interesting but scattered view of [tuberculosis]."[20] Rebecca Robbins writing for The New York Times stated that while "Green does an admirable job introducing readers to a disease they would otherwise be unlikely to learn about," she thought he was "frustratingly vague in assigning blame for the persistence of tuberculosis."[6]
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