Identifying the Pathogen

By Jennifer Militello

A hybrid collection blending historical research and contemporary essays to consider the nature of oppressive marriage and gender inequity.

Composed as a lab notebook recording various surgeries, autopsies, and experiments, Identifying the Pathogen tells the story of a scientist on an obsessive quest to document an ailment that resists classification. The book considers the body in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, woven through with the story of Anna Morandi Manzolini--an eighteenth-century Italian anatomist and artist who struggled to support a husband suffering from depression--as well as several essays detailing accounts of a ruptured appendix, a splintered cello, and an ill-fated rock climbing excursion.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1961209446
• ISBN13: 9781961209442
• Release Date: February 2026
• Publisher: Tupelo Press
• Length: 132 Pages
• Weight: 0.57 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.2" x 9.0"