The Premonition: A Pandemic Story

Which person in the book did you most identify with—and why?

What does Lewis mean when he says that the book is “about the curious talents of a society, [...] how those talents are wasted if not led, [and] how gaps open up between a society’s reputation and its performance” (xv)?

Why is the book The Swine Flu Affair significant? How does its lesson differ depending on one’s frame of reference or agenda? What does it imply about protecting lives versus public image—or about proactive versus reactive response based on experience? What do you make of its author’s viewpoint?

Why does Lewis focus on Carter Mecher and the Wolverines to tell the story of the pandemic?

Ken Cuccinelli tells Charity Dean that the White House won’t do what’s necessary to fight the pandemic. What reality drives the acting director of homeland security to make this incredible statement?

Other than the coronavirus itself, whom do you consider the primary antagonist of The Premonition? Why?

Discuss the organizations and characters to which this passage refers: “The people who presided in times of peace tended to have a gift for avoiding or at least disguising conflict. People made for battlefield command did not find their way into positions of authority, at least not until the general public sensed existential risk” (199).

What is the premonition to which the book’s title refers, and who in the book has that premonition?