Press Kit · For Immediate Release

Mind Viruses America's Irrational Obsessions — by John Leake

Skyhorse Publishing · On sale July 21, 2026 · Hardcover · Kindle · Audiobook

Interviews, review copies and additional assets — publicity contacts
Kimberly Hammond
East Coast Vice President
Publius PR
kimberlyt.publius@gmail.com (561) 410-0082
Stacy Asensio-Sutphen
VP of Publicity & Content
PTH Publicity · Part Time Hero Productions
stacy@parttimeheroproductions.com 516-508-0772

Download the press kit

Fact sheet, bios, praise, interview questions and full contents. Everything on this page also downloads individually — no login, no form.

↓ Press kit (PDF) ↓ Everything (ZIP)

Fact Sheet

Select and copy any field.

TitleMind Viruses: America's Irrational Obsessions
AuthorJohn Leake
PublisherSkyhorse Publishing, 307 Fifth Avenue, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10016
On saleJuly 21, 2026
FormatsHardcover · Kindle · Audiobook
Price$32.99 US / $44.99 CAN
Extent240 pages
Hardcover ISBN978-1-5107-8680-6 (ISBN-10: 1-5107-8680-5)
Ebook ISBN978-1-5107-8681-3
CategoryPhilosophy / Political
RetailersAmazon · Barnes & Noble
Cover designDavid Ter-Avanesyan
StructurePreface · Prologue · 24 chapters · Notes · Index

Review copies are available in hardcover and digital. Email either publicist with a mailing address and format.

The Book in One Paragraph

Jacket copy — cleared for reprint.

Summary130 words

America's decline from Cold War victor to "a house divided against itself" is not the result of external threats, but of irrational beliefs that spread like contagions — sickening "We the People" while enriching the interests that profit from fear and division. Mind Viruses traces twenty-five years of manufactured crises, from the War on Terror to the COVID-19 vaccines, and shows that each one followed the same three moves. In 1957 the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung warned of "psychic epidemics." In 1984 the KGB defector Yuri Bezmenov warned of "ideological subversion" — changing the perception of reality so thoroughly that, despite an abundance of information, no one can reach sensible conclusions in defense of themselves, their families, or their country. John Leake documents what both men saw coming.

The formula — the book's central argument

Every crisis in the book runs the same three moves, in order:

  1. Manufacture the threat. Propagate fear of a purported danger to public health or safety.
  2. Anoint the mission. Present a solution whose implementation is cast as a sacred, unquestionable mission.
  3. Name the enemy. Scapegoat anyone who doubts, questions, or opposes the mission.

This is the spine of any interview. Once a host has these three, every example in the book slots into them.

Advance Praise

Selectable text — copy straight into a rundown.

"This is an invaluable book for anyone who has ever wondered why, in recent years, we've constantly lurched from one 'crisis' to the next, and how all of these 'crises' are related. With vivid and gripping detail, Mind Viruses reveals how the American republic has been divided by a contagion of irrational ideas and fervently held false beliefs. As a medical doctor, I found the chapters on the COVID-19 vaccines and transgender medicine especially illustrative of how science can be hijacked by special interests promoting deranged thought. A must-read for all concerned citizens who wish to restore sanity to our public forum."
Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPH Cardiologist and epidemiologist
"Mind Viruses is a compelling diagnosis of what has weakened the West, and what we need to do to get our social and political health back. While our medical profession constantly proclaims the need to vaccinate our bodies against infectious diseases, 'We the People,' and especially our children, are left defenseless against the mental contagions that have proliferated in recent years. Mind Viruses reveals with anatomical precision how we are constantly being manipulated, and how to protect our minds from the contrived social scourges and cultural plagues of our era. A compelling read that brings to mind the old African proverb, 'If there is no enemy within, the enemy outside can do us no harm.'"
Ryan N. Cole, MD Pathologist
"A potent antidote to the next contagion."
The MAHA Report
Short pull-quotes for lower thirds and graphics
  • "An invaluable book… a must-read for all concerned citizens." — Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPH
  • "Reveals with anatomical precision how we are constantly being manipulated." — Ryan N. Cole, MD
  • "A potent antidote to the next contagion." — The MAHA Report

Quote cards — ready to post

Each endorsement set with the book, in feed (4:5), square (1:1) and story (9:16) crops — plus all three quotes on one card. Click to download.

Quote card — Peter A. McCullough, MD · 4:5
Peter A. McCullough, MD · 4:5JPEG · 1080 × 1350↓ Download
Quote card — Ryan N. Cole, MD · 4:5
Ryan N. Cole, MD · 4:5JPEG · 1080 × 1350↓ Download
Quote card — The MAHA Report · 4:5
The MAHA Report · 4:5JPEG · 1080 × 1350↓ Download
Quote card — Peter A. McCullough, MD · 1:1
Peter A. McCullough, MD · 1:1JPEG · 1080 × 1080↓ Download
Quote card — Ryan N. Cole, MD · 1:1
Ryan N. Cole, MD · 1:1JPEG · 1080 × 1080↓ Download
Quote card — The MAHA Report · 1:1
The MAHA Report · 1:1JPEG · 1080 × 1080↓ Download
Quote card — Ryan N. Cole, MD · 9:16 story
Ryan N. Cole, MD · 9:16 storyJPEG · 1080 × 1920↓ Download
Quote card — The MAHA Report · 9:16 story
The MAHA Report · 9:16 storyJPEG · 1080 × 1920↓ Download
Quote card — All three quotes · 4:5
All three quotes · 4:5JPEG · 1080 × 1350↓ Download
Quote card — All three quotes · 1:1
All three quotes · 1:1JPEG · 1080 × 1080↓ Download

Author Biographies

Three lengths, as selectable text. Photography is in the asset library below.

Short bio50 words

John Leake is a New York Times bestselling author who studied history and philosophy with Sir Roger Scruton. He was the primary author, with Dr. Peter McCullough, of The Courage to Face COVID-19 and Vaccines: Mythology, Ideology, and Reality. He is vice president of the McCullough Foundation and lives in Dallas.

Medium bio100 words

John Leake is a nonfiction author with a lifelong interest in medical history, psychology and criminology. He studied history and philosophy with Sir Roger Scruton and wrote his master's thesis on Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France. His first book, Entering Hades, was a New York Times "Editors' Choice" and the inspiration for The Infernal Comedy, starring John Malkovich. Since 2021 he has worked closely with Dr. Peter McCullough, and was the primary author of their New York Times bestseller Vaccines: Mythology, Ideology, and Reality and of The Courage to Face COVID-19. He is vice president of the McCullough Foundation.

Long bio250 words

John Leake is a nonfiction author with a lifelong interest in medical history, psychology and criminology. He studied history and philosophy with Sir Roger Scruton and wrote his master's thesis on Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France — a training in how revolutions persuade people, which runs underneath everything he has written since.

His first book, Entering Hades, was a New York Times "Editors' Choice" and became the inspiration for The Infernal Comedy, the stage work starring John Malkovich. He went on to write about criminal investigation and historical injustice before the pandemic redirected his work.

Since 2021 he has worked closely with the cardiologist and epidemiologist Dr. Peter McCullough. He was the primary author of their New York Times bestseller Vaccines: Mythology, Ideology, and Reality and of The Courage to Face COVID-19, an early account of the treatment of doctors who dissented from official pandemic policy. He writes a daily investigative report for the Focal Points newsletter and serves as vice president of the McCullough Foundation.

Mind Viruses: America's Irrational Obsessions is the synthesis of that work. It steps back from any single controversy to ask why the same pattern keeps recurring — and who is served each time it does. Leake reports it as a historian rather than a partisan, building the case from declassified records, official reviews and public statements made on the record at the time.

He lives in Dallas, Texas.

Video

Both trailers stream below. Downloads are enabled — use the Download button on the Vimeo page rather than screen-capturing the web player. For a broadcast master in another codec or frame rate, email publicity.

Official trailer 2:52 · 1080p ↓ Download on Vimeo Request a broadcast master
Extended trailer 5:36 · 1080p ↓ Download on Vimeo Request a broadcast master

Cover Art & Photography

Click any file to download. Credit the cover to David Ter-Avanesyan / Skyhorse Publishing.

Book

Mind Viruses front cover
Front cover — printJPEG · 1856 × 2821 · 300 dpi at trim↓ Download
Mind Viruses front cover, web size
Front cover — webJPEG · 900 × 1368↓ Download

Author

John Leake, author photograph
Headshot — webJPEG · 644 × 826 · web only↓ Download
John Leake at the Capitol, landscape
Editorial — Capitol, landscapeJPEG · 2048 × 1365↓ Download
John Leake at the Capitol, portrait
Editorial — Capitol, portraitJPEG · 1365 × 2048↓ Download

The author photograph is available at web resolution only — please size it accordingly, or use one of the editorial frames above for a larger placement. For a full-page print reproduction of the cover, ask either publicist and Skyhorse Publishing can supply the original artwork file.

Suggested Interview Questions

The two subjects most outlets will want are COVID-19 and gender medicine. A host with time for only one block should take Block A or Block B — each stands alone as a complete segment.

Opening question — ask this first

  1. You call these "mind viruses." What makes an irrational idea a contagion rather than just a bad idea? And you argue every crisis since 2001 has run the same three moves — manufacture the threat, anoint the mission, name the enemy. Walk us through that pattern.

Block A — COVID-19, the vaccines, and Fauci

The core of the book: chapters 16 through 19. The chapters Dr. McCullough singles out in his endorsement.

  1. You call the COVID-19 vaccine "case zero." Why that one, out of everything in the book?
  2. What actually happened to the doctors and scientists who asked questions early? Not the argument — the professional consequences.
  3. Anthony Fauci said on national television that criticism of him was criticism of science itself. If that is true, what criticism could ever be legitimate? Is there any test that could have shown him wrong?
  4. Chapter 17 is called "The Amazing Prescience of Anthony Fauci, Stéphane Bancel, and Bill Gates." What do you mean by prescience there — and what's the documentary basis for it?
  5. Chapter 18 is "There's No Business Like Pandemic Business." Follow the money for us. Who was paid, how much, and what was promised in return?
  6. The vaccine was sold as the thing that would end the pandemic. When it did not prevent infection, why did the official position not change?

Block B — Gender medicine and children

Chapter 21. The other subject Dr. McCullough highlights, and the one with the strongest official record now behind it.

  1. You put pediatric gender medicine in the same book as the pandemic. What is structurally the same about them?
  2. England commissioned the Cass Review; Sweden and Finland ran their own evaluations. What did they actually find, and how does that compare with what American families were told at the time?
  3. Who was warning about this early, and what happened to them?
  4. If the evidence was this thin, how did it become standard care so fast — and what does that tell us about how medical consensus gets manufactured?

Context and close — optional

  1. A Swiss psychologist in 1957 and a KGB defector in 1984 both described this phenomenon before it happened. What did Carl Jung and Yuri Bezmenov see coming that the rest of us missed?
  2. Chapter 15 is about debilitating young people with fear of climate change. What is that fear doing to kids?
  3. Chapter 22 is about the death of Charlie Kirk. Why did that belong in this book?
  4. If someone finishes your book and asks "what do I actually do about this" — what is the answer? How does a person inoculate their own mind?

Segment angles

Table of Contents

Preface · Prologue: A Murder in Moscow — then twenty-four chapters, Notes and Index.

Bookings & Review Copies

Publicity handles all interview requests and review copies. For same-week bookings, call rather than using the website form.

Either contact can book John
Kimberly Hammond
East Coast Vice President
Publius PR
kimberlyt.publius@gmail.com (561) 410-0082
Stacy Asensio-Sutphen
VP of Publicity & Content
PTH Publicity · Part Time Hero Productions
stacy@parttimeheroproductions.com 516-508-0772

Request a review copy

Hardcover or digital. Send a name, outlet and mailing address.

Request a review copy Request an interview