The Plague is a decent candidate for Camus' most important work. It should be required reading for anyone interested in how people (and states) respond to the outbreak of an epidemic (which today, includes everyone).

> "No longer were there individual destinies; only a collective destiny, made of plague and the emotions shared by all. Strongest of these emotions was the sense of exile and deprivation, with all the crosscurrents of revolt and fear set up by these."