Plague Story and Other Essays : Simon Sheridan : 9780648948612 : 0648948617 : 27 Sep 2020 : "Those who tell the stories rule society" - Plato Societies run on stories. But in the modern West we believe that we are above stories; we are scientific. It is partly because of this (story!) that we are often blind to the stories we tell ourselves. In this book, I analyse the structure of the story we have been telling ourselves about the corona event: the plague story. I look at how the plague story unfolded and who has been telling it. The structure of that story dictates both what has happened so far and what needs to happen to bring the matter to an end. There's just one problem: corona is clearly not a plague. Therefore, our willingness to accept it as such needs explanation. In the second half of the book, I sketch out the larger social and cultural themes that have been at work. Among these are our growing biophobia and denial of death, our continuing belief in the myths of heroic scie