Everything Is Tuberculosis
John Green, best known as a novelist, has spent years working on global health advocacy with his brother Hank, particularly around tuberculosis. Everything Is Tuberculosis combines a history of the disease with the present day story of Henry, a young patient Green met at Lakka Government Hospital in Sierra Leone. The book moves between centuries of medical and cultural history, including TB's role in art and literature, and the realities of treating the disease today in places where new drugs are slow to arrive. Green argues that tuberculosis remains a top cause of infectious death in the world, largely because of unequal access to care. The voice is recognizably his, curious, plainspoken, and willing to sit with the moral weight of what he is describing.
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What you might want to know about Everything Is Tuberculosis
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
John Green argues that tuberculosis is still one of the most important diseases in the world, told through the story of a young patient in Sierra Leone.
No. It is nonfiction, mixing history with reporting on contemporary TB care.
No. The book is written for a general audience.
Everything Is Tuberculosis was written by John Green, published in 2025 by Crash Course, an imprint of Penguin Random House.
Everything Is Tuberculosis is 198 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Everything Is Tuberculosis takes most readers 3 to 4 hours to finish.
Everything Is Tuberculosis is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.