Was the corona pandemic foreseeable? Did decision-makers react in a timely and correct manner? Are we currently experiencing a world historical turning point? In "Corona and the world of yesterday", experts from various disciplines provide answers to the questions that are currently of primary concern to all of us. Corona has been the subject of journalistic processing since the outbreak of the pandemic. The media report almost around the clock on the infection process, specialist journals discuss medical and legal aspects. What is missing is a historical embedding. The present volume provides a remedy. The renowned historian Manfried Rauchsteiner has brought together leading intellectuals from various disciplines who analyze the changes that Corona is confronting us with. The perspectives range from history to economics and philosophy to literature. The authors are Christoph Badelt, Wolfgang Brandstetter, Herwig Czech, Markku Datler, Michael Gehler, Martin Jäggle, Michael Köhlmeier, Berthold Molden, Lydia Novoszel, Robert Pfaller, Christian Prosl, Manfried Rauchsteiner, Kurt Scholz, Klemens Tockner and Tina Wakolbinger. Well-founded, but at the same time vivid, this volume of essays helps us to understand the meaning of Corona for our time.