Americas Forgotten Pandemic, Alfred W. Crosby
Americas Forgotten Pandemic, Alfred W. Crosby
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America's Forgotten Pandemic
The Influenza of 1918, Second Edition

Author: Alfred W. Crosby

Narrator: Rick Adamson

Unabridged: 11 hr 35 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 03/16/2021

Synopsis

Between August 1918 and March 1919, the Spanish influenza spread worldwide, claiming over 25 million lives—more people than perished in the fighting of the First World War. It proved fatal to at least a half-million Americans. Yet, the Spanish flu pandemic is largely forgotten today. In this vivid narrative, Alfred W. Crosby recounts the course of the pandemic during the panic-stricken months of 1918 and 1919, measures its impact on American society, and probes the curious loss of national memory of this cataclysmic event. This edition includes a preface discussing the then-recent outbreaks of diseases, including the Asian flu and the SARS epidemic.

About Alfred W. Crosby

Alfred W. Crosby is a Professor Emeritus in American studies, history, and geography at the University of Texas, Austin, where he taught for over twenty years. His books include America's Forgotten Pandemic: The Influenza of 1918, Second edition, Throwing Fire: Projectile Technology through History, and The Measure of Reality: Quantification and Western Society, 1250-1600. The Measure of Reality was chosen by the Los Angeles Times as one of the 100 most important books of 1997.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Mark on December 12, 2021

The pandemic originated outside the United States, but was brought to the country by people traveling abroad. A respiratory disease, it was concentrated first in urban areas but soon left few places untouched. Though the ebbing of the initial wave fueled hopes that the worst of the pandemic would so......more

Goodreads review by Jeff on May 10, 2020

I read this book with two rubrics in mind: it’s quality as a history of the 1918 pandemic, and the lessons we can draw from it for the COVID-19 pandemic we face today. On the first, the prose is readable, the archival work and its limitations explained, the statistical data presented is useful but n......more

Goodreads review by Shonn on January 20, 2017

As a student of the First World War, I've always been curious about the great Flu Pandemic of 1918. My curiosity is partially academic, this was a plague that killed at least three times as many people as the First World War, (and millions more than the Black Death of the 14th century) and yet we ba......more

Goodreads review by Patrice on August 12, 2011

I think this book is complimentary to Gina Kolata's work on the same topic. There is obviously some overlap. They both discuss the epidemic in 1918 and 1919 and they both discuss research since up to points of their respective dates of publication. Kolata's book spends less time on the epidemic and......more

Goodreads review by Scott on March 22, 2020

A reviewer of this book years ago started his review with this: "I think this book is complimentary to Gina Kolata's work on the same topic." And it's interesting because I was going to say basically the same thing, which would have looked stupid, so I'm glad I read through some reviews. That said,......more

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