The Atlantic

COVID-19 Lessons for World Leaders From Medieval Literature

Once again, we are looking to leaders for protection. But how they offer it must change.
Source: FPM / Getty / Peter Lorimer / Shutterstock / The Atlantic

The world is different today—and not just because of the coronavirus. Events seem to turn it more quickly: Viruses become pandemics in weeks; medical challenges become life-and-death emergencies in days; and freedoms, once sacred, are removed in minutes live on TV. Once secure and prosperous societies now seem precariously vulnerable.

The reality, of course, is that the world different—it has never been quite as small. It took the Black Death years to reach Europe in the 14th century. It took the coronavirus a matter of weeks. The politics of this pandemic reflect this—jarring and seemingly out of control, forced into a furious sprint just to keep up with the exponential math of epidemiology. But while the world is different, certainly, at least, in Europe where life has largely been locked down, humans are not. Then as now, we fear death and crave security and search for leaders who

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