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Preventable: The Inside Story of How Leadership Failures, Politics, and Selfishness Doomed the U.S. Coronavirus Response
A definitive, behind-the-scenes look at the U.S. Coronavirus crisis from one of the most recognizable and influential voices in healthcare
From former head of Obamacare Andy Slavitt, 'PREVENTABLE' is the definitive inside account of the United States' failed response to the Coronavirus pandemic. Slavitt chronicles what he saw and how much could have been prevented - an unflinching investigation of the cultural, political, and economic drivers that led to unnecessary loss of life.
With unparalleled access to the key players throughout the government on both sides of the aisle, the principal public figures, as well as the people working on the frontline involved in fighting the virus, Slavitt brings you into the room as fateful decisions are made and focuses on the people at the center of the political system, health care system, patients, and caregivers. The story that emerges is one of a country in which - despite the heroics of many - bad leadership, political and cultural fractures, and an unwillingness to sustain sacrifice light a fuse that is difficult to extinguish.
Written in the tradition of 'The Big Short' 'PREVENTABLE' continues Andy Slavitt’s important work of addressing the uncomfortable realities that brought America to this place. And, he puts forth the solutions that will prevent us from being here again, ensuring a better, stronger country for everyone.
Running Time => 9hrs. and 30mins.
©2021 Andy Slavitt (P)2021 Macmillan Audio
From former head of Obamacare Andy Slavitt, 'PREVENTABLE' is the definitive inside account of the United States' failed response to the Coronavirus pandemic. Slavitt chronicles what he saw and how much could have been prevented - an unflinching investigation of the cultural, political, and economic drivers that led to unnecessary loss of life.
With unparalleled access to the key players throughout the government on both sides of the aisle, the principal public figures, as well as the people working on the frontline involved in fighting the virus, Slavitt brings you into the room as fateful decisions are made and focuses on the people at the center of the political system, health care system, patients, and caregivers. The story that emerges is one of a country in which - despite the heroics of many - bad leadership, political and cultural fractures, and an unwillingness to sustain sacrifice light a fuse that is difficult to extinguish.
Written in the tradition of 'The Big Short' 'PREVENTABLE' continues Andy Slavitt’s important work of addressing the uncomfortable realities that brought America to this place. And, he puts forth the solutions that will prevent us from being here again, ensuring a better, stronger country for everyone.
Running Time => 9hrs. and 30mins.
©2021 Andy Slavitt (P)2021 Macmillan Audio
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First published June 15, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 176 reviews
July 15, 2021
There isn’t a lot that is new here if you have been paying attention at all over the last year and a half. I did like the author’s explanation of where all the vast amounts of money go in our health care system and why we pay more and get less than citizens of other countries. He also has an appendix listing steps to take to prepare for the next pandemic. Given the fact that half the country doesn’t believe in science and opposes social and economic reform, it’s never going to happen. What I didn’t care for is that the author injected himself (and even his son and sister) into the story too much. It felt like self promotion.
ETA: If you want to read a much better book about how the pandemic was handled in the US, read “Nightmare Scenario” by Yasmeen Abutaleb and Damian Paletta.
ETA: If you want to read a much better book about how the pandemic was handled in the US, read “Nightmare Scenario” by Yasmeen Abutaleb and Damian Paletta.
September 19, 2023
I’ll keep this short and to the point.
Do you remember the old adage/expression to facetiously spark a little humility - “Don’t break your arm patting yourself on the back.”?
Well hopefully this author is out of his cast by now after writing this book. I had a very difficult time navigating through all the self-aggrandizing and considering the author’s position there’s really not a whole lot new here.
Yasmeen Abutaleb & Damian Paletta, Lawrence Wright and Michael Lewis have written much better books on this topic/subject matter, i. e. the (mis)management of the pandemic, so I would recommend reading one or all three of those books. In the latter -The Premonition (Lewis) - Mr. Slavitt not quite the shining star/Covid superhero he portrays himself to be here - just ask Dr. Charity Dean.
Bottom line - a hard pass on this one.
Do you remember the old adage/expression to facetiously spark a little humility - “Don’t break your arm patting yourself on the back.”?
Well hopefully this author is out of his cast by now after writing this book. I had a very difficult time navigating through all the self-aggrandizing and considering the author’s position there’s really not a whole lot new here.
Yasmeen Abutaleb & Damian Paletta, Lawrence Wright and Michael Lewis have written much better books on this topic/subject matter, i. e. the (mis)management of the pandemic, so I would recommend reading one or all three of those books. In the latter -The Premonition (Lewis) - Mr. Slavitt not quite the shining star/Covid superhero he portrays himself to be here - just ask Dr. Charity Dean.
Bottom line - a hard pass on this one.
August 10, 2021
This is written by a partisan insider but is consistent with what I have read relative to decision making in the Trump Administration. It is also consistent with what I observed over the past year. I’ve been taught, and have known intuitively, that as a leader you endure the same hardships as those you lead. I was required to wear a mask all day at work in my office by an administration that refused to wear them. I watched a Lupus drug in short supply be approved for off label use against COVID without the data due to political pressure. I watched an experimental and expensive therapy that is not available to the general public be administered to an individual that then told those same people that do not have access to that cutting edge treatment, not to be afraid of the virus. The full back story is just as unsettling. I was particularly appalled by the conscious decision to set the states up for failure and create a situation to capitalize politically from a crisis of this magnitude.
I deducted a star because the author can’t help himself. You cannot bash the free market, capitalism, and our system without at least acknowledging that the same system produced three safe and effective vaccines (including two with a completely novel approach) and is manufacturing and distributing them at an astounding rate. Nobody can deny that we are in a much better position than those countries that are trying to guilt other countries into giving them the vaccine.
I deducted a star because the author can’t help himself. You cannot bash the free market, capitalism, and our system without at least acknowledging that the same system produced three safe and effective vaccines (including two with a completely novel approach) and is manufacturing and distributing them at an astounding rate. Nobody can deny that we are in a much better position than those countries that are trying to guilt other countries into giving them the vaccine.
June 9, 2021
Andy Slavitt accounts his experience as a former President Obama administration staffer, helping with the rollout of the Affordable Healthcare plan, to the turnover to the new administration, and then jumps quickly to early 2020.
I was unsure about reading this book considering that the events described within are so fresh in my mind and still currently happening. However, once I started to read, it was difficult to put down - even if it was making me quite angry, but no more so than I already had been watching as decisions were rolled out since March 2020.
Slavitt's accounts, experiences, and knowledge in this book allowed me have faith that there are people with a good head on their shoulders attempting to put forth knowledge and leadership to help guide most out of this active pandemic. He covers the transition, the way that decisions were made, the reason why the American Healthcare system makes it difficult to actually serve people, and then into the transition into the President Biden Administration. His book ends shortly before March 2021, however he has some reflection in the end of what things may look like - what they might look like now (presently writing this in June 2021).
I definitely recommend this to be picked up to have some views of the back ground workings of many government and nonprofit entities. Whether you lean one way or another, any who read this can get something out of it.
I was unsure about reading this book considering that the events described within are so fresh in my mind and still currently happening. However, once I started to read, it was difficult to put down - even if it was making me quite angry, but no more so than I already had been watching as decisions were rolled out since March 2020.
Slavitt's accounts, experiences, and knowledge in this book allowed me have faith that there are people with a good head on their shoulders attempting to put forth knowledge and leadership to help guide most out of this active pandemic. He covers the transition, the way that decisions were made, the reason why the American Healthcare system makes it difficult to actually serve people, and then into the transition into the President Biden Administration. His book ends shortly before March 2021, however he has some reflection in the end of what things may look like - what they might look like now (presently writing this in June 2021).
I definitely recommend this to be picked up to have some views of the back ground workings of many government and nonprofit entities. Whether you lean one way or another, any who read this can get something out of it.
July 5, 2021
What fantastic book. Everyone who lived through the pandemic should read this. Great detail about the virus itself, the failed response to the virus and the cost of that failed response. I've seen reviews that have criticized this book because they feel like It criticized Trump too much. However, the author lays an excellent factual basis to show that mismanagement by the federal government resulted in many deaths.
There is a whole chapter on the failed health care system in the United States and how that made covid 19 even worse. There is another chapter on misinformation about the vaccines and how that impacted the pandemic. Over 600,000 people died during the pandemic. I contracted covid 19 and I am still dealing with health consequences from it. Ignorance does not solve pandemics. Knowledge, information and science are the way out. This book It's filled with all of those.
There is a whole chapter on the failed health care system in the United States and how that made covid 19 even worse. There is another chapter on misinformation about the vaccines and how that impacted the pandemic. Over 600,000 people died during the pandemic. I contracted covid 19 and I am still dealing with health consequences from it. Ignorance does not solve pandemics. Knowledge, information and science are the way out. This book It's filled with all of those.
August 29, 2021
It feels weird to read books about the pandemic while we are still in it. Makes me realize how long this has been going on. This book was well written and infuriating.
June 28, 2021
Preventable
Andy Slavitt
Andy Slavitt a former successful businessman turned civil servant and advocate for healthcare reform who worked for the Obama administration as the acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services from March 2015 to January 2017 and helped saved the Healthcare.gov rollout after it’s initial failure, plus more recently served temporarily in the Biden administration as Covid-19 Response Coordinator releases his new book, Preventable. A bird’s eye, behind the scenes look at how the country and especially the Trump leadership or lack of it impacted how Covid-19 ravaged our country and divided us instead of uniting us like the 911 tragedy did.
Slavitt an early opponent of how the Trump Whitehouse and especially Donald Trump himself handled or didn’t handle the Covid-19 pandemic accurately recounts for readers/listeners how the inactions, lies and deception and the politicizing of mask wearing of the former President ultimately led to many unnecessary lives being lost (some experts say up to 100,000 lives could have been spared). And how the dismantling of many previous agencies put in place for rapid pandemic response and how his belittling of scientists and other experts led to the public’s confusion on who to believe and distrust of agencies like the Centers for Disease Control CDC and the World Health Organization WHO.
Andy takes his audience inside his meetings with top officials both Republican and Democrat looking for advice, and takes them inside his meetings with top Trump aides quietly giving them advice while trying to persuade them to keep Trump’s rhetoric in check and when that didn’t work how Andy took to the airwaves himself to podcasting and to Twitter to tell the public the truth about Covid-19 and how to prevent the spread.
But Slavitt doesn’t stop there he also in layman’s terms lays out what the country and the world must to do to be ready for the next Preventable, outbreak.
Andy Slavitt
Andy Slavitt a former successful businessman turned civil servant and advocate for healthcare reform who worked for the Obama administration as the acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services from March 2015 to January 2017 and helped saved the Healthcare.gov rollout after it’s initial failure, plus more recently served temporarily in the Biden administration as Covid-19 Response Coordinator releases his new book, Preventable. A bird’s eye, behind the scenes look at how the country and especially the Trump leadership or lack of it impacted how Covid-19 ravaged our country and divided us instead of uniting us like the 911 tragedy did.
Slavitt an early opponent of how the Trump Whitehouse and especially Donald Trump himself handled or didn’t handle the Covid-19 pandemic accurately recounts for readers/listeners how the inactions, lies and deception and the politicizing of mask wearing of the former President ultimately led to many unnecessary lives being lost (some experts say up to 100,000 lives could have been spared). And how the dismantling of many previous agencies put in place for rapid pandemic response and how his belittling of scientists and other experts led to the public’s confusion on who to believe and distrust of agencies like the Centers for Disease Control CDC and the World Health Organization WHO.
Andy takes his audience inside his meetings with top officials both Republican and Democrat looking for advice, and takes them inside his meetings with top Trump aides quietly giving them advice while trying to persuade them to keep Trump’s rhetoric in check and when that didn’t work how Andy took to the airwaves himself to podcasting and to Twitter to tell the public the truth about Covid-19 and how to prevent the spread.
But Slavitt doesn’t stop there he also in layman’s terms lays out what the country and the world must to do to be ready for the next Preventable, outbreak.
June 16, 2021
Without a doubt, “Preventable”, by Andy Slavitt, is the most biased, partisan book I’ve read; and I’ve read many political tomes from every viewpoint in the last 4-5 years. Even those with a clear “slant” attempt to provide some semblance of equity when presenting facts; not so this time.
After reading Slavitt’s offering and had I been in a coma for the last 18 months, I would believe that Trump did nothing right with regards to the COVID crisis. He’s blamed for everything: shortages of PPE, black market PPE, vaccine development cost and non development cost, societal ills; the list is huge. Expecting governors to govern is somehow his fault, just ask Chris Cuomo, someone the author spoke to regularly.
Two hundred and forty pages go by pointing out every epic failure, (real or imagined), of the last president. The new guy does everything right but most right of all is: The American Rescue Plan. It will reduce childhood poverty, provide guaranteed income, work, food and shelter for low and middle class families. This will allow them to live with less fear that another “misfortune” could derail it. Slavitt mentions that it was “dramatically and with little fanfare” signed into law. Of course it was - all this legislation is done by executive order now. Oh, do we just keep printing money to pay for it?
In this case, being well written isn’t a good thing but it is “Preventable”📚
After reading Slavitt’s offering and had I been in a coma for the last 18 months, I would believe that Trump did nothing right with regards to the COVID crisis. He’s blamed for everything: shortages of PPE, black market PPE, vaccine development cost and non development cost, societal ills; the list is huge. Expecting governors to govern is somehow his fault, just ask Chris Cuomo, someone the author spoke to regularly.
Two hundred and forty pages go by pointing out every epic failure, (real or imagined), of the last president. The new guy does everything right but most right of all is: The American Rescue Plan. It will reduce childhood poverty, provide guaranteed income, work, food and shelter for low and middle class families. This will allow them to live with less fear that another “misfortune” could derail it. Slavitt mentions that it was “dramatically and with little fanfare” signed into law. Of course it was - all this legislation is done by executive order now. Oh, do we just keep printing money to pay for it?
In this case, being well written isn’t a good thing but it is “Preventable”📚
July 5, 2021
I fear that the people that really need to read this book never will. Those that do already understand the tragedy of how this pandemic was handled by our government in 2020.
There is so much that needs to be fixed in our country to avoid such tragedy from happening again. My fear is that selfish, self-serving, power-hungry people in power will prevail and nothing will change. I pray that is not the case
There is so much that needs to be fixed in our country to avoid such tragedy from happening again. My fear is that selfish, self-serving, power-hungry people in power will prevail and nothing will change. I pray that is not the case
November 3, 2022
Imagine being a Trump supporter in 2022 😂😂😂😂
January 21, 2023
This book will make you angry.
The book is extremely well-written. I was engrossed throughout. Slavitt doesn’t gentle the behind the scenes dialogues. Some of what I read was shocking. I felt like I was there in the room witnessing all this. Quite brilliant writing. A lot of complex threads are pulled into one cohesive tapestry.
I knew a lot of what was in the book, but there was plenty I didn’t know. I’m horrified. Aghast. How in the world did we elect a madman and then enable him to surround himself with people who said whatever he wanted to hear?
I will say that I was even sometimes distressed by some of the good guys. Birx trying to play the game & stay on Trump’s good side. I remember her the first months of the pandemic. She’d say something I knew was not true. I’d be outraged. I cried a lot. I would cry to my husband and say, “You don’t understand what this means and how many will die.”
I even disagreed with Andy Slavitt a few times. Sometimes I think he sought to MANAGE people and their reactions. This doesn’t work. It didn’t work during the Spanish flu either. The direct full truth has to be told to people even if it’s scary. Hiding it, dulling it down, managing people… NONE of that yields good results.
Here we are. Over 1,100,000 dead. A huge number that’s tiny compared to how many are suffering with long covid which is tiny compared to how many have longterm damage. Yet, some people get infected with covid three, four, five times and complain when they never tried NOT to get covid.
I’ve seen people deliberately not test for covid just so they won’t have to stay home. I’ve seen people almost die of covid and then act like it’s nothing. Too many people are unkind, spoiled, and selfish. We have got to change. The virus can play the long game. We’re going to end up with a society made up mostly of disabled and dying people… except the 10% of us (including my household) who still isolate because it’s that or get covid because people refuse to mask or act with any decency and personal responsibility.
It’s unimaginable to me that this book only has 1,014 ratings on Goodreads and only 155 reviews. Everyone should read this book, but almost nobody has. Why? Because most people don’t care and don’t want to know. I don’t understand what’s happened, but I see the same willingness to be rotten that was present in many people during WWII. People feeling free to be cruel and rotten. People who don’t care that they might kill someone as long as they get their morning coffee. It’s sickening.
If we can’t get people to care about destroying the health of others or killing them, how will we get them to care about climate change which requires even greater sacrifice?
The book is extremely well-written. I was engrossed throughout. Slavitt doesn’t gentle the behind the scenes dialogues. Some of what I read was shocking. I felt like I was there in the room witnessing all this. Quite brilliant writing. A lot of complex threads are pulled into one cohesive tapestry.
I knew a lot of what was in the book, but there was plenty I didn’t know. I’m horrified. Aghast. How in the world did we elect a madman and then enable him to surround himself with people who said whatever he wanted to hear?
I will say that I was even sometimes distressed by some of the good guys. Birx trying to play the game & stay on Trump’s good side. I remember her the first months of the pandemic. She’d say something I knew was not true. I’d be outraged. I cried a lot. I would cry to my husband and say, “You don’t understand what this means and how many will die.”
I even disagreed with Andy Slavitt a few times. Sometimes I think he sought to MANAGE people and their reactions. This doesn’t work. It didn’t work during the Spanish flu either. The direct full truth has to be told to people even if it’s scary. Hiding it, dulling it down, managing people… NONE of that yields good results.
Here we are. Over 1,100,000 dead. A huge number that’s tiny compared to how many are suffering with long covid which is tiny compared to how many have longterm damage. Yet, some people get infected with covid three, four, five times and complain when they never tried NOT to get covid.
I’ve seen people deliberately not test for covid just so they won’t have to stay home. I’ve seen people almost die of covid and then act like it’s nothing. Too many people are unkind, spoiled, and selfish. We have got to change. The virus can play the long game. We’re going to end up with a society made up mostly of disabled and dying people… except the 10% of us (including my household) who still isolate because it’s that or get covid because people refuse to mask or act with any decency and personal responsibility.
It’s unimaginable to me that this book only has 1,014 ratings on Goodreads and only 155 reviews. Everyone should read this book, but almost nobody has. Why? Because most people don’t care and don’t want to know. I don’t understand what’s happened, but I see the same willingness to be rotten that was present in many people during WWII. People feeling free to be cruel and rotten. People who don’t care that they might kill someone as long as they get their morning coffee. It’s sickening.
If we can’t get people to care about destroying the health of others or killing them, how will we get them to care about climate change which requires even greater sacrifice?
August 8, 2021
If nothing else, Preventable is worth the read to read Ch. 9, The Folly of the Free Market Pandemic. I was blown away by the medical health system in the US. What comes to doctors, insurance companies, hospitals, lobbyists, big pharma, all get kick backs from our government. How the medical system profited from the pandemic. How the medical system is suppose to take care of us. Not profit from us, the taxpayer, and insurer. It gave me a bad taste in my mouth. I didn't realize this. Boy, the medical system changed when I was a nurse. I realized that has changed since technology has taken over in the 90's.
The rest of the book is what I already knew. Still the book was informative. The Book was plainly written, and easily understand by the average reader. The only complaint I have was it was biased. Which I am a Democrat. But, I wish it was not so obvious. It makes the author sound like he had an agenda. I would rather know the issues not the name calling. But, still Iiked what Mr. Slavitt had to say.
The rest of the book is what I already knew. Still the book was informative. The Book was plainly written, and easily understand by the average reader. The only complaint I have was it was biased. Which I am a Democrat. But, I wish it was not so obvious. It makes the author sound like he had an agenda. I would rather know the issues not the name calling. But, still Iiked what Mr. Slavitt had to say.
July 15, 2021
A very good book on how Covid come to the USA and why it did so much damage. As a bonus, decent high-level overview of why the existing USA health/insurance/pharmacy system is so broken and how capitalism works in its worse during a pandemic.
One might say that author complaining about Trump's mistakes too much. But then you have the numbers that speak for themselves and facts, and you ask yourself how it can be tolerated for that long.
One might say that author complaining about Trump's mistakes too much. But then you have the numbers that speak for themselves and facts, and you ask yourself how it can be tolerated for that long.
September 10, 2021
This is another one of those books where if you want to read it, you probably didn't need to and if you need to read it, you probably won't. Slavitt does an excellent job of giving the reader the timeline of the virus and America's tragic response. He highlights all the different areas where we as a people have failed. He goes after both sides, but it's clear which one deserves the lion's share of the blame. (Rhymes with "Schmapublicans")
He also sets out a road map for what we need to change in order to get back on the right path and/or prevent this from happening again. But...yeah, I don't see any of that happening any time soon. But this is a great book and a must read for those of us who want to keep fighting the good fight against misinformation and the virus.
He also sets out a road map for what we need to change in order to get back on the right path and/or prevent this from happening again. But...yeah, I don't see any of that happening any time soon. But this is a great book and a must read for those of us who want to keep fighting the good fight against misinformation and the virus.
October 13, 2021
Excellent, direct story of the American COVID-19 epidemic and how it was run so wrong. The people Trump held up as experts weren’t and the experts, even Dr. Deborah Birx, we’re thrown under the bus. The epidemic became politicized and never righted itself. This book ends with Biden taking over but I think the damage that came before he became president still causes deaths and disease.
June 10, 2021
This could be a hard read if you are suffering from COVID fatigue. It steps through the events of last year, sarge by stage. Slavitt definitely seems to have been in a position to speak knowledgeably about the topic, but also makes his position and opinions on the pandemic clear.
January 21, 2023
We all saw 95% of this play out right in front of us, the other 5% of the book is what took place behind the scenes- explaining why it happened the way it happened. Mostly valuable a historical document.
July 20, 2021
Great historical reminder of how terrible the pandemic was mishandled. So much misinformation from prior administration.
June 28, 2022
A little too partisan.
September 20, 2021
What was good: This is a reasonably well-structured and not atrociously written account (although somewhat cutesy here and there) of how the United States mismanaged the pandemic response. The best quote from the book, in my opinion: “Don't try to be the smartest person in the room; find the smartest people for the room." From what we’ve lived through over the last eighteen months, it seemed accurate, thoughtful, and well-reasoned and as a consequence it’s a very depressing book. It’s not just about Trump but does skewer him severely.
What was bad: I thought that this was going to be an objective analysis of what went wrong during the coronavirus pandemic (I really need to screen what I borrow from the library better). Instead, it's a heavily partisan, first-person account of Andy Slavitt's involvement in attempting to manage the pandemic. The question I wish I’d asked at the outset: who is Andy Slavitt? Answer: Andy Slavitt is an incredibly committed and selfless public servant (just ask him, he'll tell you) who went to Harvard Business School but eschewed the coarse path of most business school graduates to pursue the higher calling of altruistic public service. He became famous during the pandemic by tweeting his truth to the humble masses. If I had known how famous he was before starting the book I might have been less put off by his self-aggrandizing, name-dropping manner. My disenchantment with the book is, therefore, drawn solely from my previous ignorance of Andy Slavitt as a profound and rare national treasure. Further, the choice of Bradley Whitford as the narrator for the audiobook takes a strident, careworn writing style and elevates it to a level of whining that was tough to get through.
With all of that said, I must say that I detest Donald Trump and agree with a lot of what Slavitt has to say. I consider myself a political independent and think Trump a con man and grossly unqualified to have been elected president; an example of the Republican Party’s ethos that only Democratic lying, draft-dodging womanizers are bad. I believe that we’ve swung too far in the direction Ronald Reagan started us in the 1980s and believe Trump to be a natural outgrowth of that. This book did cause me to ask myself where Trump lies on the stupid-to-evil continuum, though (is his incompetence due more to ignorance or willful neglect?). With more thought, I realize this is a far too simplistic dichotomy and that Trump manages to transcend stupid and evil since both his ignorance and neglect are willful as is his extreme selfishness. I wish I could say that I think any of Slavitt’s suggestions at the end of the book have a snowball’s chance, but as reflected in every day’s news, we now have an entire political class of Trumps to live with.
Like so many of these political screes, the people who need to read it won’t and the people who do read it already agree. I’m not sure what the point is…I guess I’m just glad I didn’t buy it.
What was bad: I thought that this was going to be an objective analysis of what went wrong during the coronavirus pandemic (I really need to screen what I borrow from the library better). Instead, it's a heavily partisan, first-person account of Andy Slavitt's involvement in attempting to manage the pandemic. The question I wish I’d asked at the outset: who is Andy Slavitt? Answer: Andy Slavitt is an incredibly committed and selfless public servant (just ask him, he'll tell you) who went to Harvard Business School but eschewed the coarse path of most business school graduates to pursue the higher calling of altruistic public service. He became famous during the pandemic by tweeting his truth to the humble masses. If I had known how famous he was before starting the book I might have been less put off by his self-aggrandizing, name-dropping manner. My disenchantment with the book is, therefore, drawn solely from my previous ignorance of Andy Slavitt as a profound and rare national treasure. Further, the choice of Bradley Whitford as the narrator for the audiobook takes a strident, careworn writing style and elevates it to a level of whining that was tough to get through.
With all of that said, I must say that I detest Donald Trump and agree with a lot of what Slavitt has to say. I consider myself a political independent and think Trump a con man and grossly unqualified to have been elected president; an example of the Republican Party’s ethos that only Democratic lying, draft-dodging womanizers are bad. I believe that we’ve swung too far in the direction Ronald Reagan started us in the 1980s and believe Trump to be a natural outgrowth of that. This book did cause me to ask myself where Trump lies on the stupid-to-evil continuum, though (is his incompetence due more to ignorance or willful neglect?). With more thought, I realize this is a far too simplistic dichotomy and that Trump manages to transcend stupid and evil since both his ignorance and neglect are willful as is his extreme selfishness. I wish I could say that I think any of Slavitt’s suggestions at the end of the book have a snowball’s chance, but as reflected in every day’s news, we now have an entire political class of Trumps to live with.
Like so many of these political screes, the people who need to read it won’t and the people who do read it already agree. I’m not sure what the point is…I guess I’m just glad I didn’t buy it.
August 19, 2021
For more reviews and bookish posts please visit: https://www.ManOfLaBook.com
Preventable: The Inside Story of How Leadership Failures, Politics, and Selfishness Doomed the U.S. Coronavirus Response by Andy Slavitt is a non-fiction book taking a behind the scenes look at the U.S.’ COVID-19 response under the Trump administration. Mr. Slavitt is a businessman, healthcare advisor and executive, who served as a temporary Senior Advisor to the COVID-19 Response Coordinator in the Biden administration.
If you have been paying attentions since the early part of 2020, Preventable: The Inside Story of How Leadership Failures, Politics, and Selfishness Doomed the U.S. Coronavirus Response by Andy Slavitt isn’t going to provide many new revelations. However, the book does summarize, analyze, and puts in perspective the dumpster fire we call 2020.
The author, above all a proponent of healthcare reform, just like everyone else not making money from the system, does provide an excellent explanation of where all the money goes to. After all, it is a slap in the face of Americans who pay more for healthcare, and get less.
Mr. Slavitt is a partisan insider, and does not hide it. His analysis, however, is consistent with everything I read, and watched in real-time. I’m really sorry to find out that my pessimism was well placed, and not an overreaction.
The most disturbing part, for me, was the politicization of public health. This is something that should rise above politics. Even a sync like myself didn’t realize, at the time, the level interference and politicization which was involved in something which had real life or death consequences.
It’s obvious whose toes the author is not trying to step on. Dr. Deborah Burke, for example, gets a pass because she was trying to manage upwards. On the other hand, others who were sucked into the Trump administration’s orbit do not get such benefit.
One thing was certainly clear to me after 2020, and is crystal clear after reading this book. We, Americans, haven’t learned a damn thing. The next pandemic, one that’s not only going to kill the most vulnerable, is going to be devastating.
This is a partisan book, no one is trying to hide that fact, but it’s not a “hit piece”. But it doesn’t mean it’s wrong and the position of the President of the United States is such that you get the credit, or the blame, for what happens during your reign whether you had control of it (pandemic response) or not (ex: gas prices).
The narration by actor Bradly Whitford is fine, but his voice goes up and down which is sometimes difficult to hear or pay attention. There is one part where he askes to go to the bathroom, I don’t know if that was left in on purpose, but it was a welcomed relief for such a serious subject.
Preventable: The Inside Story of How Leadership Failures, Politics, and Selfishness Doomed the U.S. Coronavirus Response by Andy Slavitt is a non-fiction book taking a behind the scenes look at the U.S.’ COVID-19 response under the Trump administration. Mr. Slavitt is a businessman, healthcare advisor and executive, who served as a temporary Senior Advisor to the COVID-19 Response Coordinator in the Biden administration.
If you have been paying attentions since the early part of 2020, Preventable: The Inside Story of How Leadership Failures, Politics, and Selfishness Doomed the U.S. Coronavirus Response by Andy Slavitt isn’t going to provide many new revelations. However, the book does summarize, analyze, and puts in perspective the dumpster fire we call 2020.
The author, above all a proponent of healthcare reform, just like everyone else not making money from the system, does provide an excellent explanation of where all the money goes to. After all, it is a slap in the face of Americans who pay more for healthcare, and get less.
Mr. Slavitt is a partisan insider, and does not hide it. His analysis, however, is consistent with everything I read, and watched in real-time. I’m really sorry to find out that my pessimism was well placed, and not an overreaction.
The most disturbing part, for me, was the politicization of public health. This is something that should rise above politics. Even a sync like myself didn’t realize, at the time, the level interference and politicization which was involved in something which had real life or death consequences.
It’s obvious whose toes the author is not trying to step on. Dr. Deborah Burke, for example, gets a pass because she was trying to manage upwards. On the other hand, others who were sucked into the Trump administration’s orbit do not get such benefit.
One thing was certainly clear to me after 2020, and is crystal clear after reading this book. We, Americans, haven’t learned a damn thing. The next pandemic, one that’s not only going to kill the most vulnerable, is going to be devastating.
This is a partisan book, no one is trying to hide that fact, but it’s not a “hit piece”. But it doesn’t mean it’s wrong and the position of the President of the United States is such that you get the credit, or the blame, for what happens during your reign whether you had control of it (pandemic response) or not (ex: gas prices).
The narration by actor Bradly Whitford is fine, but his voice goes up and down which is sometimes difficult to hear or pay attention. There is one part where he askes to go to the bathroom, I don’t know if that was left in on purpose, but it was a welcomed relief for such a serious subject.
June 28, 2021
Andy Slavitt worked for Obama and tried to help fix the disaster of the ACA rollout. He is an “insider” with a lot of first hand information from behind the scenes, even though he wasn’t part of the Trump administration. The book is a pretty fast read and reveals the behind the scenes stuff and all the things that went horribly wrong during the pandemic. It was informative, interesting and seemed well researched.
“She described COVID-19 as a lonely disease “where you can’t visit the person you love. You can’t be at their bedside. You can’t even meet the people who are taking care of them. You can only talk to them on the phone. And it’s just against everything that we’ve ever believed in for family and values and who we are as a country.”
“This virus is aiming to thin the herd of the old, the poor, and the sick.”
He writes about the countries that did REALLY well during the pandemic, and then focused on everything America did wrong. And we apparently did everything wrong.
“We were like people who had never seen fire before and who wouldn’t believe it was dangerous without sticking our hands in the flames first.”
“That will never work. Studies have shown people will listen to you for about two weeks, but if they don’t see what you’re telling them, they will begin to rebel. And they might rebel at exactly the time that the virus comes to their location. This is a very big country. You’ve got to manage this regionally and balance people’s needs with the best public health response. More people will die, but that’s the only way things will work.”
“Hong Kong had two important weapons the United States didn’t: pandemic experience and the will to act collectively. The city of 7 million had been through a flu outbreak in 1968 that ended up killing 1 million people worldwide, and they’d been through SARS in 2003. Even though the new Chinese government in Hong Kong didn’t begin its own response quickly and was not widely trusted, most people began wearing masks—without a mandate—by the end of January.”
During this whole pandemic, and reading the book, I couldn’t stop thinking about how if we’d had true lockdowns nationwide, we might have been able to be more like South Korea and New Zealand. What is most disappointing is that I don’t think anyone has “learned” from the lessons of the pandemic and we will be doomed to repeat this in the future.
“She described COVID-19 as a lonely disease “where you can’t visit the person you love. You can’t be at their bedside. You can’t even meet the people who are taking care of them. You can only talk to them on the phone. And it’s just against everything that we’ve ever believed in for family and values and who we are as a country.”
“This virus is aiming to thin the herd of the old, the poor, and the sick.”
He writes about the countries that did REALLY well during the pandemic, and then focused on everything America did wrong. And we apparently did everything wrong.
“We were like people who had never seen fire before and who wouldn’t believe it was dangerous without sticking our hands in the flames first.”
“That will never work. Studies have shown people will listen to you for about two weeks, but if they don’t see what you’re telling them, they will begin to rebel. And they might rebel at exactly the time that the virus comes to their location. This is a very big country. You’ve got to manage this regionally and balance people’s needs with the best public health response. More people will die, but that’s the only way things will work.”
“Hong Kong had two important weapons the United States didn’t: pandemic experience and the will to act collectively. The city of 7 million had been through a flu outbreak in 1968 that ended up killing 1 million people worldwide, and they’d been through SARS in 2003. Even though the new Chinese government in Hong Kong didn’t begin its own response quickly and was not widely trusted, most people began wearing masks—without a mandate—by the end of January.”
During this whole pandemic, and reading the book, I couldn’t stop thinking about how if we’d had true lockdowns nationwide, we might have been able to be more like South Korea and New Zealand. What is most disappointing is that I don’t think anyone has “learned” from the lessons of the pandemic and we will be doomed to repeat this in the future.
June 23, 2021
This book surprised me. I expected it to be good. I've read many of the pandemic books/political books about the pandemic so far. This is the best, and in some unexpected ways.
As I started reading it seemed a bit self-serving. and the "devices" used t start chapters/discussions (announcing "scenes" seemed a distraction for a bit). And yet, it seems the most comprehensive history of the work of the pandemic, good and bad (and the bad was very bad - this is the most anti-Trump book I've read -- and it is deservedly so) as well as an extensive look at the pre-conditions in our society that set us up for the enormous lack of an effective response (it's not all about Trump and his moronic, BS, and narcisistic nature).
There are several long pieces about how our healthcare systems (if you can call them systems) need to change away from a capitalistic, money-produceing engine to an inclusive, affordable system committed to public good for all.
And, despite my original misgivings, it is very readable (and indeed, novelistic, at times).
The point that got me the most was that perhaps the biggest "failure," was a failure of empathy and commitment to each other. Without these, if you weren't directly affected, it was, and still is, too easy to say "it's not that bad" or "it can never happen to me." It can and it will and if we read this and things like it, perhaps we can change ourselves, our communities, and society enough to make a difference the next time.
Finally, of all the stories, the thing that got me the most was his description of his town's ritual/tradition built on empathy and togetherness. When a child in the community dies, during the funeral, parents and kids in the town line the path of the family for it's return home with balloons of the child's favorite color. The baloons are taken down by the community after the family reaches their home.
As I started reading it seemed a bit self-serving. and the "devices" used t start chapters/discussions (announcing "scenes" seemed a distraction for a bit). And yet, it seems the most comprehensive history of the work of the pandemic, good and bad (and the bad was very bad - this is the most anti-Trump book I've read -- and it is deservedly so) as well as an extensive look at the pre-conditions in our society that set us up for the enormous lack of an effective response (it's not all about Trump and his moronic, BS, and narcisistic nature).
There are several long pieces about how our healthcare systems (if you can call them systems) need to change away from a capitalistic, money-produceing engine to an inclusive, affordable system committed to public good for all.
And, despite my original misgivings, it is very readable (and indeed, novelistic, at times).
The point that got me the most was that perhaps the biggest "failure," was a failure of empathy and commitment to each other. Without these, if you weren't directly affected, it was, and still is, too easy to say "it's not that bad" or "it can never happen to me." It can and it will and if we read this and things like it, perhaps we can change ourselves, our communities, and society enough to make a difference the next time.
Finally, of all the stories, the thing that got me the most was his description of his town's ritual/tradition built on empathy and togetherness. When a child in the community dies, during the funeral, parents and kids in the town line the path of the family for it's return home with balloons of the child's favorite color. The baloons are taken down by the community after the family reaches their home.
June 21, 2021
I'll admit I'm an Andy Slavitt fanboy. Listened to all his episodes of the "In the Bubble Podcast". Admired his straightforwardness in almost daily tweet threads throughout the pandemic. Respected his directness and clarity in the thrice-weekly White House COVID briefings in the last few months.
So, I bought his book "Preventable" as it promised to have inside stories of what went wrong in the nation's response to the COVID crisis.
Although the book is an easy, fast read, if you had been following the politics of the pandemic (not to mention all of the astute commentators throughout 2020), there's not much new here. You'll get a few more details about Dr. Birx, HHS Secretary Azar, and Jared Kushner. There is a sprinkling of human interest stories about essential workers.
In essence, the book is an indictment of many areas of the current American system of health care. From how the money flows to various inequities. The book is also an indictment of the Trump administration's refusal to deal with the pandemic as any failure would be perceived to go against the reelection efforts so all reaction/mitigation needed to be done by the states. The book is also an indictment against American society that has allowed charlatans to have equal voice and reach as our public health establishment.
Thus, for me, 3 stars because it was a rehash of stuff I already knew. For someone who perhaps did not have the time in 2020 to research or reflect on why 600,000 Americans died, the book would be a good 5 star entry point.
Slavitt is an honest man who called it as he saw it based on his vast experience in health care management both in non-profits and in government. The Biden administration was fortunate to enlist him in the vaccine distribution efforts.
So, I bought his book "Preventable" as it promised to have inside stories of what went wrong in the nation's response to the COVID crisis.
Although the book is an easy, fast read, if you had been following the politics of the pandemic (not to mention all of the astute commentators throughout 2020), there's not much new here. You'll get a few more details about Dr. Birx, HHS Secretary Azar, and Jared Kushner. There is a sprinkling of human interest stories about essential workers.
In essence, the book is an indictment of many areas of the current American system of health care. From how the money flows to various inequities. The book is also an indictment of the Trump administration's refusal to deal with the pandemic as any failure would be perceived to go against the reelection efforts so all reaction/mitigation needed to be done by the states. The book is also an indictment against American society that has allowed charlatans to have equal voice and reach as our public health establishment.
Thus, for me, 3 stars because it was a rehash of stuff I already knew. For someone who perhaps did not have the time in 2020 to research or reflect on why 600,000 Americans died, the book would be a good 5 star entry point.
Slavitt is an honest man who called it as he saw it based on his vast experience in health care management both in non-profits and in government. The Biden administration was fortunate to enlist him in the vaccine distribution efforts.
June 30, 2021
I’ve been following Andy Slavitt on Twitter since the beginning of this pandemic, where he was/is a much needed explainer-in-chief during all the chaos. (Thank you Andy!). So I was eager to read this book.
This was told from Mr Slavitt’s POV with his personal encounters regarding this pandemic. For instance, his experience trying to communicate with the Trump White House. In another instance, he laid out his thoughts on our healthcare system and how it should change.
That said, I was hoping for a more historical and less memoir book; then again, this was just last and this year so I guess how historical can it be?
It does mean that, since from 2020 to now I had followed closely the actions of the federal, state and county governments, some of the things he mentioned were not new to me but a refresher.
Two things stood out. One — and this really bugged me before — writer Ed Yong explained to Slavitt that (paraphrased) this virus is a complex issue. But people don’t understand that the extremes of a probability distribution, while less likely, can still happen. For example, a state didn’t follow public health advice Y, and its cases didn’t go up. Then people will think advice Y must be wrong, but that’s not true.
Two was when Slavitt’s dad told him (paraphrased) that in America you’ll see the most beautiful and most ugly. (I think we need more beautiful, stats.)
Finally, yes, I agree that we could have make a difference anytime we, the US people as a whole, chose to care enough. But apparently we, as a whole, never did.
I’ll really like to see several things from the Exhibit N. Hope it won’t be N for Never.
This was told from Mr Slavitt’s POV with his personal encounters regarding this pandemic. For instance, his experience trying to communicate with the Trump White House. In another instance, he laid out his thoughts on our healthcare system and how it should change.
That said, I was hoping for a more historical and less memoir book; then again, this was just last and this year so I guess how historical can it be?
It does mean that, since from 2020 to now I had followed closely the actions of the federal, state and county governments, some of the things he mentioned were not new to me but a refresher.
Two things stood out. One — and this really bugged me before — writer Ed Yong explained to Slavitt that (paraphrased) this virus is a complex issue. But people don’t understand that the extremes of a probability distribution, while less likely, can still happen. For example, a state didn’t follow public health advice Y, and its cases didn’t go up. Then people will think advice Y must be wrong, but that’s not true.
Two was when Slavitt’s dad told him (paraphrased) that in America you’ll see the most beautiful and most ugly. (I think we need more beautiful, stats.)
Finally, yes, I agree that we could have make a difference anytime we, the US people as a whole, chose to care enough. But apparently we, as a whole, never did.
I’ll really like to see several things from the Exhibit N. Hope it won’t be N for Never.
September 22, 2021
The complex mess that embroiled America's response to COVID-19 was fertile fodder for pendants, armchair epidemiologists, and pseudoscientific quacks. I find the social psychology of everything quite intriguing, so this book was a page-turner for me.
Slavitt gives a behind the scenes look into the federal government's initial response to the pandemic (or lack thereof) that paints himself as a benevolent humanitarian and Trump and his team as self-focused denialists. You can read and decide if you agree with his indictments. While Slavitt (a Democrat) repeatedly says that health decisions should be bipartisan, I'm also looking forward to reading more about COVID-19 from the other side of the isle.
I took away 2 stars because of his lack of balance/perspective from the Republicans and their line of reasoning. Even though I tend to agree with Slavitt from a purely medical perspective, he fails to give credence to opposing points of view or acknowledge the assumptions behind his arguments. For example, he seems to assume without saying as much that everyone agrees that the ultimate goal is saving the most lives for the most people (Utilitarianism). Based on observed actions by politicians, that's clearly not the main motivation for a lot of political decisions. Maybe it's beyond the scope of the book, but I would have liked to hear more discussion on Trump's underlying rationale besides just assuming that he was making decisions solely focused on his own interests, even though it looks like that might have been the case.
Slavitt gives a behind the scenes look into the federal government's initial response to the pandemic (or lack thereof) that paints himself as a benevolent humanitarian and Trump and his team as self-focused denialists. You can read and decide if you agree with his indictments. While Slavitt (a Democrat) repeatedly says that health decisions should be bipartisan, I'm also looking forward to reading more about COVID-19 from the other side of the isle.
I took away 2 stars because of his lack of balance/perspective from the Republicans and their line of reasoning. Even though I tend to agree with Slavitt from a purely medical perspective, he fails to give credence to opposing points of view or acknowledge the assumptions behind his arguments. For example, he seems to assume without saying as much that everyone agrees that the ultimate goal is saving the most lives for the most people (Utilitarianism). Based on observed actions by politicians, that's clearly not the main motivation for a lot of political decisions. Maybe it's beyond the scope of the book, but I would have liked to hear more discussion on Trump's underlying rationale besides just assuming that he was making decisions solely focused on his own interests, even though it looks like that might have been the case.
July 22, 2021
Andy Slavitt delivers on the promise of the title.
Things I liked:
1. The book is chronological. The author does not jump around in the timeline.
2. The book is objective to the facts about the virus and measures that could have been taken to slow or prevent the virus from spreading the way it did. (though a Trumper would disagree).
Things to be improved
1. It reads like blue porn. If the objective was to reveal the facts to a republican to snap them out of their fantasy, this book will not do it.
What I learned:
Trump's (by Trump I mean his entire administration) promises of Covid quickly disappearing, his embrace of medical non-sense, his rejection of testing, his refusal to cooperate with experts, and his jeering of masks fueled America's distrust in experts. As Andy argues near the end of the book, when experts are no longer trusted, and everyone's opinion on a matter is equal, it is hierarchy that will determine what is right and wrong. Anyone who was not a madman could have done a better job at managing the pandemic response.
Things I liked:
1. The book is chronological. The author does not jump around in the timeline.
2. The book is objective to the facts about the virus and measures that could have been taken to slow or prevent the virus from spreading the way it did. (though a Trumper would disagree).
Things to be improved
1. It reads like blue porn. If the objective was to reveal the facts to a republican to snap them out of their fantasy, this book will not do it.
What I learned:
Trump's (by Trump I mean his entire administration) promises of Covid quickly disappearing, his embrace of medical non-sense, his rejection of testing, his refusal to cooperate with experts, and his jeering of masks fueled America's distrust in experts. As Andy argues near the end of the book, when experts are no longer trusted, and everyone's opinion on a matter is equal, it is hierarchy that will determine what is right and wrong. Anyone who was not a madman could have done a better job at managing the pandemic response.
August 13, 2021
I listen to Andy's podcast, In the Bubble. In fact, it is one of my mainstays for information during the pandemic. I had to read this book because Andy wrote it, and I suspected it would be good.
It was great. Even better than I had expected.
Even though we lived through the Trump Administration's bumbling and neglectful handling of the COVID 19 response, reading about what was happening both on and off the camera was startling. Reading chronologically the things that were done and not done, brought things back in even greater clarity. It was a lot worse than I had suspected.
However, my favorite parts were finding out what Andy and other people were doing behind the scenes to try to encourage the Trump Administration into doing the right and scientific thing. The number of people that Andy had reached out to and worked with, hoping to make a difference in the decisions being made, was astounding.
It is definitely a book that people need to read so that something like this can never happen again.
It was great. Even better than I had expected.
Even though we lived through the Trump Administration's bumbling and neglectful handling of the COVID 19 response, reading about what was happening both on and off the camera was startling. Reading chronologically the things that were done and not done, brought things back in even greater clarity. It was a lot worse than I had suspected.
However, my favorite parts were finding out what Andy and other people were doing behind the scenes to try to encourage the Trump Administration into doing the right and scientific thing. The number of people that Andy had reached out to and worked with, hoping to make a difference in the decisions being made, was astounding.
It is definitely a book that people need to read so that something like this can never happen again.
July 2, 2021
Slavitt knows how to wrangle big bureaucratic systems. He came in to save ACA when the website crashed. He offered help countless times at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020. He offered...he worked independently with colleagues creating systems to track cases.
He finally was invited to participate, to observe. What he saw is chilling and horrifying. It was worse than we could have imagined. Much. Worse.
He gives profiles of the major characters, which helps us understand their motivation. And he chronicles the downfall of Dr. Birx who thought her pretty scarves would save you from the Rick Wilson curse: Everything Trump Touches Dies. He destroyed the career of a respected professional.
Grateful Slavitt agreed to join the Biden administration for the first months, to get the covid response on the right track. Nearly a year too late for 600,000 Americans who died. Their deaths were preventable.
He finally was invited to participate, to observe. What he saw is chilling and horrifying. It was worse than we could have imagined. Much. Worse.
He gives profiles of the major characters, which helps us understand their motivation. And he chronicles the downfall of Dr. Birx who thought her pretty scarves would save you from the Rick Wilson curse: Everything Trump Touches Dies. He destroyed the career of a respected professional.
Grateful Slavitt agreed to join the Biden administration for the first months, to get the covid response on the right track. Nearly a year too late for 600,000 Americans who died. Their deaths were preventable.
July 9, 2021
Slavitt does a terrific job of navigating information and judgement, providing a full from-the-inside account of what had to happen to manage the pandemic from (and in spite of) the federal level. Engaging and interesting.
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