Biological War: A Scenario

On July 28, 2026, Dutton, a Penguin Random House imprint, published the hardcover edition of the book in the United States, at 432 pages, with a trim size of 6 x 9 inches, ISBN 9798217046034, and a list price of $33. The ebook and an audiobook read by the author were released the same day, with the audiobook running 11 hours 14 minutes. On August 18, 2026, a large print edition was published, at 576 pages.⁠[1][1][1][1][1][1][1]

On July 29, 2026, the podcast Change Agents with Andy Stumpf, hosted by SEAL Team 6 veteran Andy Stumpf and produced by IRONCLAD, released an interview with Jacobsen titled “Society Would Collapse in 6 DAYS: The Super Weapon That Could End the World,” and the episode description noted that the book was out now.⁠[2][2][2][2][2]

On July 30, 2026, Transworld Digital, an imprint of Penguin Random House’s UK company, released the UK ebook edition of the book, ISBN 9781529967944; the UK edition is also available in hardback and as an audiobook.⁠[3][3][3]

On August 11, 2026, host Mina Kim interviewed Jacobsen about the book on KQED’s talk program Forum. Drawing on interviews with former defense secretaries, CIA and FEMA officials, scientists, and counterterrorism experts, the book traces hour by hour how the various parties might respond.⁠[4][4][4]

On October 5, 2026, Change Agents with Andy Stumpf re-released its interview with Jacobsen under the label “REBROADCAST,” noting that the interview was recorded in July.⁠[2][2][2]

The book is Jacobsen’s follow-up to Nuclear War: A Scenario, and its subject is biological warfare, a topic that has long run through her reporting. It imagines a scenario that moves from a lab accident and a bio-attack to a global pandemic and ultimately the collapse of human society, and is based on new interviews with dozens of experts with high-level political, governmental, medical, and military responsibility.⁠[1][1][1]

Following the narrative style of Nuclear War: A Scenario, the book offers a ticking-clock roadmap of the hours, days, and weeks after the event, in a scenario featuring mass death, total societal breakdown, insurrection, and anarchy; unlike a nuclear blast, the scenario has no mushroom cloud or shock wave, and begins with something extremely small.⁠[1][1][1][1]

After publication, the book appeared on the New York Times bestseller list and was selected as a New York Times Editors’ Choice and for the paper’s Best Books of 2026 (So Far); before that, People had named it one of the 15 most anticipated books of summer 2026. The UK’s Sunday Times chose it as its Book of the Week.⁠[1][3]

A review in The New Yorker called the book a scrupulously realistic account of the inconceivable and an indictment of the weapons programs that created this reality and of the leadership that has allowed it to continue; the New York Times Book Review found the book heavily researched and said that the willingness of so many interviewees to be named reflected the esteem in which the author is held in the field; The Economist called it “Energetic, detailed and disturbing.”⁠[1][1][3]

Penguin Random House: Official link: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/783250/biological-war-by-annie-jacobsen/ (opens in a new window).⁠[1]