The Great Influenza, John M. Barry
The Great Influenza, John M. Barry
9 Rating(s)
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The Great Influenza
The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History

Bestseller

Author: John M. Barry

Narrator: Scott Brick

Unabridged: 19 hr 27 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Published: 03/16/2006

Synopsis

In the winter of 1918, 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 weeks than AIDS has 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 between modern science and epidemic disease. Magisterial in its breadth of perspective and depth of research, THE GREAT INFLUENZA weaves together multiple narratives, with characters ranging from William Welch, founder of the Johns Hopkins Medical School, to John D. Rockefeller and Woodrow Wilson. Ultimately a tale of triumph amid tragedy, this crisis provides us with a precise and sobering model as we confront the epidemics looming on our own horizon.

About The Author

John M. Barry is the author of the New York Times bestselling The Great Influenza and the prizewinning history Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America. He divides his time between New Orleans, Louisiana, and Washington, D.C.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Mario the lone bookwolf on June 06, 2020

Pandemics recur, just as history repeats itself, and it´s all simply a question of how much can be learned from it and how far technology has marched on. They were at war, so they couldn´t tell that there were outbreaks, only the neutral Spain could say it without the danger of demotivating the pop......more

Goodreads review by Dr. Appu on February 26, 2023

History is not only learning about the past but also learning from the past to shape our present and the future. This book, in such a way, is not only a compendium about the Spanish flu (1918 - 1920) but also a vivid description of the pattern of the current pandemic Covid-19 (Barry wrote this book......more

Goodreads review by Dave on October 18, 2007

This book had promise, and is good in spots - but the overall product suffers greatly from lack of direction and editorial control. If I could rate the best third of the book, I would give it five stars. The other two thirds of the book suffers substantially from a lack of focus, inclusion of unnece......more

Quotes

Over a year on The New York Times bestseller list

"Monumental... powerfully intelligent... not just a masterful narrative... but also an authoritative and disturbing morality tale." —Chicago Tribune 

"Easily our fullest, richest, most panoramic history of the subject." —The New York Times Book Review

"Hypnotizing, horrifying, energetic, lucid prose..." —Providence Observer

"A sobering account of the 1918 flu epidemic, compelling and timely. —The Boston Globe

"History brilliantly written... The Great Influenza is a masterpiece." —Baton Rouge Advocate  

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