The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History#1 New York Times bestseller “Barry will teach you almost everything you need to know about one of the deadliest outbreaks in human history.”—Bill Gates "Monumental... an authoritative and disturbing morality tale."—Chicago Tribune The strongest weapon against pandemic is the truth. Read why in the definitive account of the 1918 Flu Epidemic. Magisterial in its breadth of perspective and depth of research, The Great Influenza provides us with a precise and sobering model as we confront the epidemics looming on our own horizon. As Barry concludes, "The final lesson of 1918, a simple one yet one most difficult to execute, is that...those in authority must retain the public's trust. The way to do that is to distort nothing, to put the best face on nothing, to try to manipulate no one. Lincoln said that first, and best. A leader must make whatever horror exists concrete. Only then will people be able to break it apart." At the height of World War I, history’s most lethal influenza virus erupted in an army camp in Kansas, moved east with American troops, then exploded, killing as many as 100 million people worldwide. It killed more people in twenty-four months than AIDS killed in twenty-four years, more in a year than the Black Death killed in a century. But this was not the Middle Ages, and 1918 marked the first collision of science and epidemic disease. |
Other editions - View all
The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History John M. Barry Limited preview - 2005 |
The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History John M. Barry Limited preview - 2005 |
Common terms and phrases
American Medical Anna Williams antigen antigen shift antitoxin army attack autopsies Avery bacteria bacteriologists began believed blood body Bubonic Plague called Camp cause cells civilian Cole cyanosis dead death toll demic developed Devens died disease doctors entire experiments fever George Soper German Gorgas Harvey Cushing hemagglutinin History Hopkins hospital hundred Ibid immune system infection Influenza Epidemic Influenza Pandemic influenza virus investigators isolated Journal killed Krusen laboratory later lethal living lungs measles medical school medicine military million mutate National navy nurses organization Oswald Avery outbreak Park pathogen patients percent Pfeiffer's Philadelphia physicians plague pneumococci pneumonia population Public Health Service quarantine quoted Red Cross reported respiratory Rockefeller Institute Rufus Cole sailors scientific scientists seemed Sept serum Shope sick Simon Flexner soldiers Spanish influenza spread Surgeon symptoms Thomson thousand troops United University vaccine Vaughan victims viruses weeks Welch William Wilson York