Richard Preston (b. August 5, 1954) is a New Yorker writer and bestselling author of books about alarming infectious disease epidemics and bioterrorism. Whether journalistic or fictional, his writings are based on thorough background research and extensive interviews. Richard Preston attended Pomona College, in southern California, and received his Ph.D. in English from Princeton University. His 1992 New Yorker article "Crisis in the Hot Zone" was expanded into his best known book, The Hot Zone (1994). It is a "non-fiction thriller" about the Ebola virus. He came to know the virus through such contacts as U.S. Army researchers Drs. C.J Peters and Nancy Jaax. His fascination began during a visit to Africa where he was an eyewitness to epidemics. Preston's novel The Cobra Event (1997), about the terroristic release of a fictional virus combining various qualities of different diseases upon New York City, alarmed even former President Clinton (according to the book's back cover). The book strove to tell a fast-paced thriller narrative within the bounds of well-researched bio-terroristic possibility. The Demon in the Freezer covers the story of the eradication of smallpox, perhaps the most destructive virus to have plagued mankind. It details the survival of the virus in research labs and bio-weapon programs of Russia and other nations, despite its eradication in the human population. The narrative continues with Anthrax, a bacterial disease of cattle and humans, used in a failed attack against former Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota.
- The Hot Zone served as the (very loose) basis of the Hollywood movie Outbreak (1995) about military machinations surrounding a fictional "Oropouche virus".
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Bibliography
Fiction
- (1997) The Cobra Event. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-679-45714-3.
- (2003) The Boat of Dreams: A Christmas Story, illus. George Henry Jennings, New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-4592-X.
Non-fiction
- (1987) First Light: The Search for the Edge of the Universe. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press. ISBN 0-87113-200-1.
- (1991) American Steel: Hot Metal Men and the Resurrection of the Rust Belt. New York: Prentice Hall Press. ISBN 0-13-029604-X.
- (1994) The Hot Zone. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-679-43094-6.
- (2002) The Demon in the Freezer. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-375-50856-2.
- (2007) The Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring. New York: Random House. ISBN 978-1400064892.
