The White Plague

The White Plague is a 1982 novel by Frank Herbert, featuring a plague that kills only women and therefore ends the human species.

Scientist John Roe O'Neill is driven mad by a terrorist attack that kills his wife and children. He develops and releases a gendercidal plague in Libya, England, and Ireland, but of course it spreads.

Blurbs

• "John Roe O'Neill, molecular biologist, American of Irish descent, saw the car bomb explosion that killed instantly his wife Mary and their twin five-year-olds, Kevin and Mairead. Physically almost unharmed, a shock wace of blinding, all-engulfing hatred and revulsion seared through his mind. Revulsion not just for the bombers but for a world that could produce such horror. And he sought revenge on that world, creating and unleashing a plague. Then, as his plague swept the world, bringing not just death but the mad anarchy of terror, he went on a journey where he was forced to see the awfulness of his own handiwork."

Reading and discussion notes

• "white plague" is a term also given to tuberculosis
• Compare: James Tiptree, Jr., "The Last Flight of Dr. Ain"
• Commentator "R Hendrick" notes on one site: "This novel has quite an A-list following. Bill Joy, co-founder of Sun Microsystems, wrote that this book was his sole fictional influence behind his classic essay ‘Why the future doesn’t need us’. John Robb, ‘the futurist’s futurist’ and author of best-seller ‘Brave New War’ also identifies this book as his sole fiction influence."

Awards

• Nominated, Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel (1983)

Editions

• ISBN 978-0399127212

See also

• gendercide

Further reading

• FantasticFiction.co.uk
• Wikipedia
• Review, TrueSciFi (2009/01/20)