Causing 1.8 million deaths a year, a count that surpasses that of either malaria or HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB) clocks in as the deadliest infectious disease. TB researcher Lougheed takes a closer look at this ancient yet potentially curable illness that continues to ravage humans around the world, particularly in areas with high poverty and limited access to health care. She has crafted a biography of TB, exploring its historical evolution and humans' response to it. Beginning with the work of molecular archaeologists to diagnose TB in ancient remains, Lougheed moves through history covering a variety of topics such as the migration of TB to all corners of the globe. According to the author, if we ever hope to overcome the disease, a comprehensive, collaborative approach combining science and efforts to combat poverty and improve access to health care will be necessary. With humor and clarity, she skillfully distills the complex science surrounding mycobacterium TB into a comprehensible narrative. VERDICT Sure to be appreciated by scientists as well as lay people interested in learning about this persistent disease. Make no mistake, however—this is serious science.—Ragan O'Malley, Saint Ann's Sch., Brooklyn

British medical researcher Lougheed creditably covers the long, painful history of tuberculosis, the world's leading infectious killer, and the impressive recent advances in combatting it. The slow-growing and tough TB bacterium has infected humans since prehistory, but our immune system largely kept it under control up until the industrial revolution, when humans packed into cities and their health and immune systems declined. Improvements in public health after 1900 reduced infections, and it was widely believed that anti-TB antibiotics—which were developed after just after WWII—would eliminate the threat. But resistance appeared; widespread poverty in the developing world, combined with other diseases attacking the immune system such as HIV, has produced a worldwide epidemiological crisis. Lougheed delivers an expert account of this history, although her efforts to enliven a dismal subject with cheerful anecdotes and jokes do not always succeed. She is at her best when describing the research done in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Dazzling technical advances, new drugs, the development of genomics, insights into the bacterium's metabolism, and massive but halting political efforts may eventually turn the tide, but as Lougheed writes, TB is "very much a disease of the present and, sadly, the future." (Sept.)