This first global history of the COVID-19 pandemic reads like a real thriller.

What did scientists and politicians really know when the COVID-19 virus emerged?

Could this global crisis have been avoided—or at least its consequences mitigated? For most of us, the course of the pandemic that struck the world in spring 2020 remains confusing, drowned in an overwhelming flood of information and untruths. William Andureau, journalist for Le Monde, wanted to shed light on this topic. Separating fact from fiction, he tells, for the first time in history, the true story of the COVID-19 pandemic.

By browsing Chinese, American, and European doctors’ and researchers’ forum, compiling political declarations from around the world, reading scientific literature and conspiracy narratives, and interviewing key players, this fact-checking specialist gathered thousands of pieces of information that shed light on the unfolding of this global crisis. Then, he assembled them chronologically, like the pieces of a puzzle.

The result is a gripping narrative that constantly moves from one country to another: from Wuhan’s market, where the virus first appeared, to the White House, where President Trump devoted himself to spreading misinformation; from laboratories, where virologists struggled to understand the fearsome pathogen, to social media, where conspiracy theories also wreaked havoc.

Thanks to Audureau’s work, we understand why many scientists had feared a major medical disaster ever since the 2003 SARS outbreak. We grasp the responsibilities of the Chinese authorities, who compounded errors when the first cases emerged in Wuhan, helping the virus spread worldwide. We observe the mechanisms that tipped our world in the era of post-truth. And we realize that the medical, political, and societal lessons of this tragedy are still far from learned, both by our leaders and by our societies as a whole.