The Great Influenza: The story of the deadliest pandemic in history
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Manufacturer: Penguin Books
Written By: John M. Barry
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 614.51809041
EAN: 9780143036494
ISBN: 0143036491
Label: Penguin Books
Manufacturer: Penguin Books
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 546
Publication Date: 2005-10-04
Publisher: Penguin Books
Studio: Penguin Books
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Editorial Reviews for The Great Influenza: The story of the deadliest pandemic in history
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At the height of WWI, 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. Magisterial in its breadth of perspective and depth of research and now revised to reflect the growing danger of the avian flu, The Great Influenza is ultimately a tale of triumph amid tragedy, which provides us with a precise and sobering model as we confront the epidemics looming on our own horizon.
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Consumer reviews:
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Customer Rating:  
Summary: Great history of medicine and the early 20th Century
Comment: Although I purchased this book a couple of years ago, I hadn't gotten to it until just now. I moved it to the top of my To Read list after finishing The Last Town on Earth, which is a fictionalized account of the 1918 flu. I wasn't expecting the detailed history of how our medical profession modernized, and the history of the origins of Johns Hopkins, although I was pleasantly surprised to find it here. I also found the general policies instituted by the Wilson administration, utterly suppressing free speech and any discord about the war very interesting. The only problem I had with the book was excessive repetiveness -- sometimes I wondered if I were somehow re-reading a page I had read before, as descriptions or quotations were restated verbatim in several parts of the book. There were also excessive descriptions of similar events in different towns that didn't truly add to the book's point -- the impact and experience of the 1918 flu. Certain parts were reminiscent of The Coming Plague (another book which I highly recommend), and if you enjoyed that book, you will enjoy this one as well. I am very glad to have the knowledge gained by reading this book, and the only reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 was the repetiveness of many of its points -- the book could have easily been 100 pages shorter with some good editing.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Hot Read
Comment: A detailed look at the horrible influenza epidemic that decimated not only the United States but most of the world in 1918, killing tens of millions and sickening many more. An excellent job of explaining the biological and medical complexities of the disease, detailing the history of often shoddy medical education in the United States, and relating the Spanish flu's human and emotional toll through vivid anecdotes of personal hardship and horror. The book reads well as a medical detective story and history, and also presents a useful lesson on the falsehoods routinely issued by government leaders and newspapers in the United States in a misguided effort to keep morale "positive," theoretically to help the war effort.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Great Influenza
Comment: I liked this book it is a big thick book that takes a long time to read. If you enjoy history and you know it repeats itself. It is an interesting book to buy.
Customer Rating:
Summary: informative but "wordy"
Comment: This book contains some excellent information, but i would recommend the abridged version. I don't feel the personal lives & quirks of all of the scientists involved in the story added any insight to this pandemic.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Missed opportunity
Comment: To me, this book really represented a missed opportunity to tell a potentially fascinating story. I found *The Great Influenza* long, overwritten, repetitive, and, most important (as several have noted) telling only the American side of a worldwide pandemic. Sometimes, the author seemed to be so in love with a particular theme or trope that he strained the narrative beyond all reason to fit it in. One of the more egregious examples was the long tale, at the book's end, of the career decline and death of biologist Paul Lewis -- whose work at the time, in fact, was generally unrelated to influenza -- apparently solely so he could end the main text by metaphorically declaring Lewis (who actually died in Brazil of yellow fever) "the last victim of the great influenza."
While certain sections -- notably the ones focused on the actual operation of the virus and the factors underlying its virulence -- were well handled and interesting, and while clearly prodigious research was involved, in general I'm afraid I found the book shaggy, poorly organized, too narrowly focused on the American viewpoint, and ultimately unrewarding.
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More Information on The Great Influenza: The story of the deadliest pandemic in history
The Great Influenza (revised ed) - John M. Barry - Penguin Group (USA)
Find The Great Influenza (revised ed) by John M. Barry and other History - Other books online from Penguin Group (USA)'s online bookstore. Read more with Penguin Group (USA).
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