260. Emily Mendenhall | Unmasked: COVID, Community, and the Case of Okoboji

Join us for ⁠⁠BookThinkers LIVE 2025⁠⁠! Happening November 9, 2025! ⁠⁠https://www.bookthinkers.com/book-thinkers-live-2025 In today’s episode, we have the pleasure to interview Emily Mendenhall, author of Unmasked: COVID, Community, and the Case of Okoboji.  Emily is a medical anthropologist, professor at Georgetown University, and award-winning author whose research explores the intersections of health, culture, and politics. Her work has taken her from the hospital wards of Chicago to the villages of South Africa—and ultimately back to her hometown of Okoboji, Iowa during the height of the pandemic. In this episode, you’ll learn how to approach polarizing topics with curiosity instead of judgment, what the COVID pandemic revealed about collective identity and shame, and why public health isn’t just about protocols—it’s about people, empathy, and community trust. We hope you enjoy this incredible conversation with Emily Mendenhall. To Learn More about Emily and buy her book visit: The Book: https://a.co/d/h3uou4J Website/Socials: https://www.emilymendenhall.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-mendenhall-268b255 https://www.youtube.com/@mendenhall_em https://twitter.com/mendenhall_em Chapters: 0:00 Intro 1:23  Anthropology & using it to study COVID 5:53  Experiencing the pandemic in different cities 9:09  Understanding the complex layers of events like the 2020 pandemic 12:50 Shame and subconscious survival mechanisms 14:42 Contrast between local culture & different communities 17:02 Social consequences vs Business consequences 22:48 An anthropologist’s view on the effects of social media 25:25 How to deal with opposing perspectives and opinions 35:12 Leadership in schools & the education system 39:02 Emily’s future work 40:09 How your decisions affect people around you in the long‑run 41:10 The effects of virtual learning & education during the pandemic 43:11 Emily’s perspective shifts after publishing the book 47:52 The importance of long‑form content for deep understanding ________________________________________________ Join the world's largest non-fiction Book community! https://www.instagram.com/bookthinkers/ The purpose of this podcast is to connect you, the listener, with new books, new mentors, and new resources that will help you achieve more and live better. Each and every episode will feature one of the world's top authors so that you know each and every time you tune-in, there is something valuable to learn. If you have any recommendations for guests, please DM them to us on Instagram. (www.instagram.com/bookthinkers) If you enjoyed this show, please consider leaving a review. It takes less than 60-seconds of your time, and really makes a difference when I am trying to land new guests. For more BookThinkers content, check out our Instagram or our website. Thank you for your time!