| In the grim history of infectious diseases, not many dates stand out as a cause for celebration. But Saturday is one of them. On December 9, 1979, smallpox—a plague believed to have killed more people than any other, including the Black Death—was officially declared eradicated, two years after the last documented case. What had previously been a source of immeasurable fear and suffering—an illness that covers the skin with pustules, and can cause hemorrhaging so severe that the intestinal lining slides out of the body—was no longer a cause for concern. For the most part. In “The Demon in the Freezer,” the writer Richard Preston explains how such an “explosively contagious” disease was contained, but also considers the nightmare it could unleash if used for bioterrorism. (The article’s title refers to the location where a small remaining amount of the virus is known to be stored.) Preston’s report, published in 1999, followed his coverage for The New Yorker of the Ebola virus, which he later expanded into “The Hot Zone,” a thrilling, best-selling work of nonfiction. His smallpox article is similarly brisk and compelling. During a century when the disease killed three hundred million people, he writes, an aggressive international effort saved tens of millions more. “This could be the most impressive achievement,” he observes, “in the history of medicine.” | 
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