Writing a book about a current event presents numerous challenges, not the least of which are having to analyse data that are either incomplete or constantly changing, and making conclusions that can quickly become outdated. The objective of this volume is not to provide a blow-by-blow account of the development of the COVID-19 pandemic. Neither is it a primer to explain the pandemic from a health or medical perspective.

Rather the purpose is to situate the pandemic in a larger historical, social, economic and political context. To show that the pandemic is not just a health crisis, that it should be understood in a holistic and historical perspective. The book is intended for a general audience rather than an academic one. Hence, we tried to the best of our ability to convey the message in as accessible language as possible without sacrificing academic rigour. A glossary of medical terms used in Chapter 2 is provided for the convenience of readers.

What broke out as a health crisis in 2020, definitely the most serious since the 1918 Spanish flu, has deep historical and structural roots with extensive impacts that reverberate to all sectors of society and economy. That is why our book is titled: COVID-19 and the Structural Crises of Our Time. We examined the crises of environment, health, economy, finance and politics and their interrelationships. The pandemic is simply a jumping point or springboard for us to examine the structural flaws in our society.

Practically all commentators on the pandemic, including those with different political persuasions, are more or less agreed that the event has laid bare many fractures and flaws in society—environmental degradation and climate crisis, inability of health systems to cope with health calamities; huge economic disparities in society that worsened as the pandemic hit the poor and lower working class harder than the rich and upper class; political polarization between those who turn to science to manage the pandemic and those who disdain science in favour of populist jingoism and solutions.

In terms of situating the pandemic in broader historical context, the authors turn to the work of economic and social historian Karl Polanyi.