Dali Yang is the William Claude Reavis professor of political science at the University of Chicago. His latest book, Wuhan: How the COVID-19 Outbreak in China Spiraled out of Control, is a deeply researched account of the early days of the pandemic. In it, Yang shows how a combination of failed reporting processes, groupthink among many experts, and inherent weaknesses in China’s political system contributed to the virus’s rapid spread through the city and beyond. The work ties in with his e