This reading list is provided for anyone interested in learning more about Ebola, specifically in relation to the West African situation in 2014. Linking does not mean I necessarily agree with the article. Thanks to those who have sent me links. Additional pieces welcome – I’ve tended to avoid mainstream news stories unless they add useful maps, graphics or video. Academic literature on Ebola is largely out of date in relation to the recent outbreak, and/or very technical. Some exceptions below.
Update 24 July 2015: I’m no longer updating this on a regular basis, but Monica Green made the following comment which is useful to have available:
From August to November 2014 I published “Teaching Notes on Ebola” that I collected for my course, “Global History of Health.” All the notes (which include live links to news reports, scientific studies, and other materials) remain posted open-access on my Academia.edu page: https://asu.academia.edu/MonicaHGreen/Global-Health—Teaching-Documents. On another part of the page, I have posted the PowerPoint slides from lectures I gave in Fall 2014 and Spring 2015: https://asu.academia.edu/MonicaHGreen/Global-Health—Talks.
Full reading list last updated 27 January 2015
General Reference/Regularly Updated Content
Ebola Deeply, aggregating news source (see discussion of project here) – @Eboladeeply
Ebola Resource Centre, The Lancet – regularly updated
Center for Disease Control and Prevention, ‘Ebola (Ebola Virus Disease)’ – regular updates and lots of information, including a piece explaining ‘Contact Tracing‘, and details of their training course for medical personnel. (See also PBS Newshour video on their work)
World Health Organisation, ‘Ebola Virus Disease’ – lots of information and links, including a roadmap and updates
Médecins sans frontières, ‘Ebola Emergency’ – lots of information and links
‘2014 Ebola Outbreak’, healthmap.org – interactive map and timeline
The World Bank Group, The Economic Impact of the 2014 Ebola Epidemic: Short and Medium Term Estimates for West Africa, 7 October 2014 (detailed report; commentary in The Guardian)
UK Government, ‘Ebola: Government Response’ – links to press releases and other information
Channel Four News, ‘Unreported World: Ebola Outbreak’, 24 minute video
BBC News, ‘Ebola Outbreak’, several pieces, regularly updated, including ‘Mapping the Outbreak’ and ‘Ebola basics: What you need to know‘
The Guardian, ‘Ebola’, homepage for news stories; Ebola crisis briefing
2014 West Africa Ebola Response, Humanitarian OpenStreetMap
West African Ebola Epidemic, Humanitarian OpenStreetMap
Ebola Fieldnotes, Somatosphere (regular posts by multiple authors)
Africa in Transition – John Campbell’s blog (some specific posts linked below)
Mulford Library Blog – A Few Ebola Resources for HealthCare Professionals and All
Monkey Cage, The Washington Post (series of posts)
haba na haba – Kim Yi Dionne’s blog
Africa Health – frequent articles on the topic
Articles
Theme issue of Limn on “Ebola’s Ecologies“, January 2015, edited by Andrew Lakoff, Stephen J. Collier and Christopher Kelty
Obinna Anyadike, ‘After Ebola: What next for West Africa’s health systems‘, IRIN Africa, 26 January 2015
Peter Penfold, ‘Ebola in Sierra Leone: situation improving, but much life still on hold‘, African Arguments, 22 January 2015
Morton Jerven, ‘The IMF and Ebola: why we don’t have any good answers’, African Arguments, 14 January 2015
Peter Penfold, ‘Ebola in Sierra Leone: News from the Frontline‘, African Arguments, 12 January 2015
Mukesh Kapila, ‘Where Chlorine is your best friend‘, E-International Relations, 8 January 2015 (and ‘Love in a Time of Ebola‘, 18 January 2015)
Klaus Dodds, ‘Hotspot: West Africa’, Geographical, 19 November 2014
Derek Gregory, ‘Fighting Ebola‘, Geographical Imaginations, 15 November 2014
Mark Doyle, ‘Ebola shuts down signs of normal life in Sierra Leone‘, BBC News, 15 November 2014
Peter Singer, ‘The Ethics of Fighting Ebola’, Project Syndicate, 12 November 2014
K.A Alexander, ‘What Factors Might Have Led to the Emergence of Ebola in West Africa?‘
Alex de Waal, ‘Militarizing Global Health‘, Boston Review, 11 November 2014
Cassandra Willyard, ‘University travel bans and quarantines may impede Ebola response’, Nature Medicine, 10 November 2014
Benjamin Black, “I’m a doctor fighting Ebola. And no, you aren’t going to catch it from me“, The Guardian, 7 November 2014
Adam Taylor, ‘Map: The Africa without Ebola‘, The Washington Post, 3 November 2014
Dan Dinella, ‘Ebola’s not the First Racial Germ Panic: The Long History of Xenophobia and Scapegoating‘, Informed Comment, 3 November 2014
Ollie Dixon, ‘Quantitative Epidemiology: A New Way of Understanding the Geography of Ebola‘, Geopolitical Lens, 1 November 2014
Michele Barry, ‘Why this Ebola Outbreak is Different‘, Boston Review, 31 October 2014
Lisa O’Carroll, ‘Fighting Ebola in Sierra Leone: ‘The world is not safe’‘, The Guardian, 31 October 2014
Jeremy Farrar, ‘Ebola rages on but we are approaching a turning point in this epidemic‘, The Guardian, 29 October 2014
Richard Preston, ‘The Ebola Wars: How genomics research can help contain the outbreak‘, The New Yorker, 27 October 2014
Adam Moore, ‘Bosnians recruited to support U.S. military’s fight against Ebola in West Africa‘, Balkanist, 27 October 2014
Derek Gregory, ‘The War on Ebola‘, Geographical Imaginations, 25 October 2014
Karen J. Greenberg, ‘Top 4 Things we can learn from War on Terror in “War on Ebola”‘, TomDispatch/Informed Comment, 22 October 2014
Sophie Harman, ‘Ebola and the Politics of a Global Health Crisis’, E-International Relations, 20 October 2014
Gary Younge, ‘Ebola has exposed America’s fear, and Barack Obama’s vulnerability‘, The Guardian, 19 October 2014
Josh Holmes, ‘Nothing Spreads Like Fear: The Securitisation of Ebola‘, Geopolitics & Security, 17 October 2014
Mark Doyle, ‘Ebola Crisis: Why is the UN response taking so long?‘ BBC News, 17 October 2014
Explo Nani-Kofi, ‘Ebola: Epidemics and Imperialism‘, Counterfire, 16 October 2014
Sarah Lazare, ‘‘Assassination’ of Public Health Systems Driving Ebola Crisis, Experts Warn‘, CommonDreams, 16 October 2014
James Gallagher, ‘Ebola outbreak: How many people have died?‘ BBC News, 15 October 2014 (the best thing I’ve read on the numbers, which in most reports tend to be very precise but not very accurate)
Ken Olende, ‘West Africa’s Ebola crisis is a symptom of capitalism‘, Socialist Worker, 14 October 2014
Stassa Edwards, ‘From Miasma to Ebola: The History of Racist Moral Panic Over Disease‘, Jezebel, 14 October 2014
‘The US vs. Spain – How each country has handled the Ebola crisis so far‘, El Pais, 13 October 2014
Raymond Gilpin, ‘Ebola, , Economics and Equality in Africa‘, African Arguments, 13 October 2014
John Campbell, ‘Pathetic International Response to Ebola thus far‘, Africa in Transition, 10 October 2014.
The papers: ‘War on Ebola’, BBC News, 9 October 2014
‘Ebola Facts: How Many Patients Are Being Treated Outside of West Africa?‘, The New York Times, 8 October 2014 (with maps, timelines and FAQs)
Robert Peston, ‘The West’s Failure to Pre-Empt Ebola‘, BBC News, 8 October 2014
Daniel Hoffman and Mary Moran, ‘Ebola in Perspective‘, Cultural Anthropology, 7 October 2014 (series of articles by multiple authors)
David Quammen, ‘Ebola and the New Isolationism’, Time, 6 October 2014 (Quammen is also the author of the book Ebola: The Natural and Human History of a Deadly Virus, excerpted and lightly updated from his earlier Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic.)
‘Scientists predict Ebola will hit Europe in coming weeks‘, EurActiv, 6 October 2014
‘In 1976 I discovered Ebola, now I fear an unimaginable tragedy’, The Observer, 4 October 2014
Clint Hinote, ‘Ebola and Counterinsurgency—A Struggle for Legitimacy‘, Africa in Transition, 1 October 2014
John Campbell, ‘Ebola: The Dog that has not Barked‘, Africa in Transition, 1 October 2014
Greg Laden, ‘Ebola will not become airborne and here is why‘, ScienceBlogs, 30 September 2014
‘Experiences from Seven People at the Front Lines of the Ebola Crisis’, The Huffington Post, 25 September 2014
‘Comment: Ebola and Human Rights in West Africa’, The Lancet, 19 September 2014 (requires free registration)
The New England Journal of Medicine has a theme section – including Sylvie Briand et. al., “The International Ebola Emergency” and Margaret Chan, ‘Ebola Virus Disease in West Africa – No Early End to the Outbreak’.
Joeva Rock, ‘Militarizing the Ebola Crisis’, Truth-Out, 27 September 2014
International Crisis Group, ‘Statement on Ebola and Conflict in West Africa’, 23 September 2014
‘What you Need to Know about the Ebola Outbreak’, The New York Times, 22 September 2014 – maps and graphics
Tom Koch, ‘Ebola: Epidemics, Pandemics and the Mapping of their Containment‘, Remedia, 22 September 2014
Gregg Mitman, ‘Ebola in a Stew of Fever’, The New England Journal of Medicine, 17 September 2014
Francisco Perez, ‘Why are Affected West African states so spectacularly ill-prepared to deal with Ebola’, Africa is a Country, 23 September 2014
‘Ebola Crisis closes West African borders’, IBRU, Durham University, 15 September 2014 (summary with links)
Mit Philips and Aine Markham, ‘Ebola: A Failure of Collective Action‘, The Lancet, 10 September 2014
David M Pigott et. al. ‘Mapping the Zoonotic Niche of Ebola virus disease in Africa’, eLife, 8 September 2014 [the most technical piece listed here]
Lawrence O Gostin, ‘Ebola: Towards an International Health Systems Fund‘, The Lancet, 4 September 2014
Pippa Page, ‘“Oh, dis Ebola business!” Thoughts on current responses to the virus’, African Arguments, 1 September 2014
Leigh Phillips, ‘The Political Economy of Ebola‘, Jacobin, 13 August 2014
Sara Reardon, ‘Ebola Treatments Caught in Limbo’, Nature, 31 July 2014
Progressive Geographies 
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Going to add some of these to our library’s blog, with full attribution to you, of course!
http://mulford.utoledo.edu/mblog/?p=3651
These are great — thanks for including my blog. I’d also recommend the special issue of Cultural Anthropology, “Ebola in Perspective“, with a number of great contributions.
At the Monkey Cage, we’ve also had a number of contributions about Ebola, many of which are tagged.
Thanks – the Cultural Anthropology issue was already listed, but I’ve added Monkey Cage.
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I doubt that you are updating this list anymore, but from August to November 2014 I published “Teaching Notes on Ebola” that I collected for my course, “Global History of Health.” All the notes (which include live links to news reports, scientific studies, and other materials) remain posted open-access on my Academia.edu page: https://asu.academia.edu/MonicaHGreen/Global-Health—Teaching-Documents. On another part of the page, I have posted the PowerPoint slides from lectures I gave in Fall 2014 and Spring 2015: https://asu.academia.edu/MonicaHGreen/Global-Health—Talks.
Thanks Monica – I’ve put your comment at the top of the page to direct people to your work.
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