All Is Well: Catastrophe and the Making of the Normal State by Saptarishi Bandopadhyay

AS PUBLIC HEALTH CONCERNS REGARDING the COVID-19 pandemic have ebbed, the media and politicians portrayed this change as a "return to normal." Indeed, the pandemic years are seen as a state of exception from the normal condition. However, Saptarishi Bandopadhyay's monograph, All Is Well: Catastrophe and the Making of the Normal State ("All Is Well"), questions the idea that disasters are exceptional events, and examines how this narrative can strengthen the power of the state.