Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Hanser, Carl GmbH Co. (2018), Edition: 6. Auflage 2020, 388 pages
Description
"The Spanish flu of 1918-1920 was one of the greatest human disasters of all time. It infected a third of the people on Earth--from the poorest immigrants of New York City to the king of Spain, Franz Kafka, Mahatma Gandhi and Woodrow Wilson. But despite a death toll of between 50 and 100 million people, it exists in our memory as an afterthought to World War I. In this gripping narrative history, Laura Spinney traces the overlooked pandemic to reveal how the virus traveled across the globe, exposing mankind's vulnerability and putting our ingenuity to the test. As socially significant as both world wars, the Spanish flu dramatically disrupted--and often permanently altered--global politics, race relations and family structures, while spurring innovation in medicine, religion and the arts. It was partly responsible, Spinney argues, for pushing India to independence, South Africa to apartheid and Switzerland to the brink of civil war. It also created the true "lost generation." Drawing on the latest research in history, virology, epidemiology, psychology and economics, Pale Rider masterfully recounts the little-known catastrophe that forever changed humanity"--Amazon.… (more)
Media reviews
"Een vaccin gaat onze problemen niet oplossen .. Nu komt het aan op medewerking van het publiek. Het is daarbij essentieel dat de overheid eerlijk blijft tegen haar burgers
User reviews
LibraryThing member jetangen4571
pandemic, historical-figures, historical-places-events, historical-research, history-and-culture ----
Impressive body of work. Much more comprehensive yet detailed than any other writings on this subject that I have read, it is not just a statistical report but a compilation of information gleaned
I have the audio interpreted by Paul Hodgson who was truly remarkable.
Impressive body of work. Much more comprehensive yet detailed than any other writings on this subject that I have read, it is not just a statistical report but a compilation of information gleaned
Show More
from writings from many countries around the globe. The majority of other readings are focused on Europe and North America, while this includes translations from China, Russia, South America, and anywhere else afflicted. The role of The Great War in its transmission is explored as well. The devastation left behind by this pandemic amounted to a great deal more than the casualties of the war. I feel that this should be required reading for all healthcare workers as well as historians. I have the audio interpreted by Paul Hodgson who was truly remarkable.
Show Less
LibraryThing member amylee39
Fascinating. I had no idea that this epidemic killed so many people worldwide and changed many public health policies.
LibraryThing member aadyer
A really good, descriptive yet still engaging, account of the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918, and the issues surrounding it. Varying topics such as the genetics and microbiology of the disease, as well as the artistic and population related consequences are dealt with. Enjoyable for those with an
Show More
interest in world history, medical history or history of the early twentieth century, generally. Show Less
LibraryThing member ericlee
We have been here before, and last time it was far worse. Somewhere between 50 and 100 million people died during the so-called "Spanish Flu", for which there was no cure and no vaccine, in the final months of the First World War and its immediate aftermath. Many more people seem to have died in
Show More
this epidemic than in the war itself. Laura Spinney has written a gripping account of this tragedy and ends the book with some suggestions on how we might avoid such a horror in the future. This should be required reading for political leaders around the world, who could have avoided some of what has happened recently if only they had learned these lessons sooner. This is why history matters. Show Less
LibraryThing member RajivC
Laura Spinney focuses on The Spanish Flu in this book. She did mention that, despite the devastation it caused, it has not received the historical significance it deserves.
Laura traces the history of the Flu; she talks about various pandemics that have affected us humans and then gives us an idea
Her descriptions of the Flu are graphic, without being obscene. She strikes a delicate balance between the science and the storytelling aspect of the Spanish Flu.
The book is readable. I learned a lot, and I am glad that I picked it up.
I recommend this book to anyone starting on the journey of understanding how pandemics take place, and for anyone who wants an understanding of how they can move to humans from animals.
Laura traces the history of the Flu; she talks about various pandemics that have affected us humans and then gives us an idea
Show More
of how they could move from animals and birds to humans. Her descriptions of the Flu are graphic, without being obscene. She strikes a delicate balance between the science and the storytelling aspect of the Spanish Flu.
The book is readable. I learned a lot, and I am glad that I picked it up.
I recommend this book to anyone starting on the journey of understanding how pandemics take place, and for anyone who wants an understanding of how they can move to humans from animals.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Opinionated
Laura Spinney tells the story of the Spanish Flu - probably the worst disease outbreak in the history of humanity and certainly the most devastating single event of the 20th century (yes including the wars) - with empathy, investigative zeal and wit. Its very readable and makes a great companion
This wasn't a "COVID confinement" pick - this had been on my shelf for a few months as i've always been interested in how such a massive event seems to have been lost to popular culture. A century on the Great War looms large in culture; during my youth it wasn't unusual to meet people who had fought in it, but the flu was never mentioned. And yet, even if this wasn't obvious at the time, the devastation from the flu was much worse. Why, relatively speaking, does it seem to have been forgotten?
Spinney sets out to answer this question, to understand its origins, to understand why we as a species are more, rather than less vulnerable than we have been in the past, to understand chains of infections, as well as the social, political and cultural implications of this disease, and pandemics in general. Its very good - for the general reader, this really is all you need to know about the Spanish flu and it contains lessons for the current period too, particularly around second and third waves of infection.
Minus half a star as I think the cultural implications could have been gone into in more detail - for example the rise of mass sport in the 1920s which people attended in huge numbers, presumably with no fear of infection. How did that confidence emerge? But otherwise excellent
Show More
piece to Laurie Garrett's excellent "The Coming Plague" published in 1994. This wasn't a "COVID confinement" pick - this had been on my shelf for a few months as i've always been interested in how such a massive event seems to have been lost to popular culture. A century on the Great War looms large in culture; during my youth it wasn't unusual to meet people who had fought in it, but the flu was never mentioned. And yet, even if this wasn't obvious at the time, the devastation from the flu was much worse. Why, relatively speaking, does it seem to have been forgotten?
Spinney sets out to answer this question, to understand its origins, to understand why we as a species are more, rather than less vulnerable than we have been in the past, to understand chains of infections, as well as the social, political and cultural implications of this disease, and pandemics in general. Its very good - for the general reader, this really is all you need to know about the Spanish flu and it contains lessons for the current period too, particularly around second and third waves of infection.
Minus half a star as I think the cultural implications could have been gone into in more detail - for example the rise of mass sport in the 1920s which people attended in huge numbers, presumably with no fear of infection. How did that confidence emerge? But otherwise excellent
Show Less
LibraryThing member rivkat
A 1919 pandemic book: it came, it destroyed, it left. You know if it’s the kind of thing you want to read right now; it jumps in time and place a bit because the story is hard to tell worldwide in a synchronous way.
LibraryThing member AdonisGuilfoyle
I was inspired to read this - or one of the other titles about the Spanish 'flu - at the start of lockdown, but waited until the price dropped - in June! I'm glad I did read - or part read-part-skim - Laura Spinney's informative history of the 'greatest tidal wave of death since the Black Death',
The angle that captivated me - and probably most other readers during the past few months - is the sense of history repeating: 'What the Spanish flu taught us, in essence, is that another flu pandemic is inevitable, but whether it kills 10 million or 100 million will be determined by the world into which it emerges.' The author really, really needs to update her book, in light of 2020's coronavirus pandemic! The Spanish 'flu was far more horrific and deadly than Covid-19, however. The virus, which 'killed 50–100 million people, or between 2.5 and 5 per cent of the global population', filled the lungs with fluid, starving the body of oxygen until those afflicted turned blue, and then black, before dying within a few days. Obviously, Covid-19 is no picnic, but my mouth was hanging open while reading those scary symptoms! There is also some debate about where the 'flu originated - either the US (Patient Zero is thought to have been a mess cook in a military camp in Kansas), France or (inevitably) China, anywhere but Spain - and the exact number of casualties will never be known, but the impact is beyond doubt, and should be a lesson to everyone flouting current restrictions:
An epidemic will run its course and vanish on its own, without intervention, but measures that reduce that density – collectively called ‘social distancing’ – can both bring it to an end sooner, and reduce the number of casualties.
Fascinating and meandering in equal parts, Pale Rider is definitely worth a read, but I would recommend borrowing a copy from the library rather than buying your own, even at a discount!
Show More
but this was a hard slog, I will admit. There are perhaps two or three really interesting chapters, on the where, how and what next, but the rest is padded out with case histories of remote communities and personalities that I just couldn't focus on. The angle that captivated me - and probably most other readers during the past few months - is the sense of history repeating: 'What the Spanish flu taught us, in essence, is that another flu pandemic is inevitable, but whether it kills 10 million or 100 million will be determined by the world into which it emerges.' The author really, really needs to update her book, in light of 2020's coronavirus pandemic! The Spanish 'flu was far more horrific and deadly than Covid-19, however. The virus, which 'killed 50–100 million people, or between 2.5 and 5 per cent of the global population', filled the lungs with fluid, starving the body of oxygen until those afflicted turned blue, and then black, before dying within a few days. Obviously, Covid-19 is no picnic, but my mouth was hanging open while reading those scary symptoms! There is also some debate about where the 'flu originated - either the US (Patient Zero is thought to have been a mess cook in a military camp in Kansas), France or (inevitably) China, anywhere but Spain - and the exact number of casualties will never be known, but the impact is beyond doubt, and should be a lesson to everyone flouting current restrictions:
An epidemic will run its course and vanish on its own, without intervention, but measures that reduce that density – collectively called ‘social distancing’ – can both bring it to an end sooner, and reduce the number of casualties.
Fascinating and meandering in equal parts, Pale Rider is definitely worth a read, but I would recommend borrowing a copy from the library rather than buying your own, even at a discount!
Show Less
LibraryThing member infjsarah
Very much popular history related to medicine and health. I really enjoyed it. It's easy to read and mostly doesn't get too detailed or too scary. Parallels with current times very much in evidence despite our scientific advances.
LibraryThing member PaulaGalvan
Pale Rider is the second book I've read about the 1918 pandemic. Since I'm currently living through one, I want to find out as much as possible about the subject. The previous one I read, by John M. Barry, was written in 2005 and covered the topic thoroughly. It documented the status of the medical
Show More
community (or lack thereof) at the time, and the scientific nature of viruses—how they are born, how they mutate, and how they kill humans. Pale Rider delves more into the human crisis of dying and surviving the pandemic worldwide. Since it was written in 2017, it also cites the most recent statistics uncovered since Mr. Barry's book. I was surprised to learn that recently scientists have recreated the 1918 virus and are currently studying it in a secure biological facility. Let's hope it never gets loose. Laura Spinney's insights into the tremendous impact the pandemic had—and continues to have—on our society is spot-on, and her speculation on why this extraordinary loss-of-life has mostly been forgotten is interesting. The book is well written and documents many historical events that took place in this period. In her Afterword: On Memory, she notes: 'That perhaps one reason is that it's not so easy to count the dead. They don't wear uniforms, display exit wounds, or fall down in a circumscribed arena. They die in large numbers in a short space of time, over a vast expanse of space, and many of them disappear into mass graves, not only before their disease has been diagnosed, but often before their lives have even been recorded.' Maybe this is why our current population is having so much trouble acknowledging that we have another killer virus stalking us. Simple guidelines that have been well documented to save lives are being ignored and ridiculed, and our POTUS has made a joke of our fallen brothers. It's shameful and I'm sad that I'm an unwilling participant in today's pandemic. Show Less
LibraryThing member bragan
The reasons why I felt this 2017 book on the influenza pandemic of 1918 and its impact on the world was relevant to read in 2020 are... Well, probably they're pretty obvious. Although I'm not sure it gave me a whole lot of new perspective on our current, non-flu pandemic, other than to reinforce in
Overall, I can't say it was quite what I was hoping for in a book on this subject. Spinney tries to take a truly global approach, which is good. But I think she dwells a little too much on random details at times when I would have preferred a clearer sense of the bigger picture. And her brief attempt to analyze the impact of the pandemic on art and literature is just odd, as it seems to be based on nothing but the thinnest excuse for speculation. The sections on our medical understanding of the virus, then and now, are good, though, very clear and informative.
And I did find it interesting enough, overall. If nothing else, it's done a very good job of bringing home to me just how staggering a toll this disease took. Which maybe seems like it could be something of a comfort at the moment -- hey, look, it could be worse! -- but is mostly just terrifying, really.
Show More
my mind that old saw about those who don't learn from history being doomed to repeat it.Overall, I can't say it was quite what I was hoping for in a book on this subject. Spinney tries to take a truly global approach, which is good. But I think she dwells a little too much on random details at times when I would have preferred a clearer sense of the bigger picture. And her brief attempt to analyze the impact of the pandemic on art and literature is just odd, as it seems to be based on nothing but the thinnest excuse for speculation. The sections on our medical understanding of the virus, then and now, are good, though, very clear and informative.
And I did find it interesting enough, overall. If nothing else, it's done a very good job of bringing home to me just how staggering a toll this disease took. Which maybe seems like it could be something of a comfort at the moment -- hey, look, it could be worse! -- but is mostly just terrifying, really.
Show Less
LibraryThing member LibraryCin
The subtitle pretty much tells you what the book is about. I listened to the audio. The male British narrator is always a warning for me, and that warning “fit”. My mind wandered in and out, and it was interesting in parts. In addition to a broader outlook, the author looked at different
Show More
countries around the world and how it affected those countries. I think I lost interest a bit more looking at the countries individually than looking at the pandemic in a broader sense. It sure was interesting to see the parallels to today – one of those parallels being the health measures that governments try to take with varying results of compliance. Show Less
LibraryThing member asukamaxwell
The book title is a reference to, of course, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Death on a Pale Horse, but also for Katherine Ann Porter's short story "Pale Horse, Pale Rider." Laura Spinney's work focuses on the world at large, covering Poland, Russia, Japan, Australia, Chile, Brazil,
Germ theory was still new, and unlike bacteria, as shown by Koch and Pasteur, viruses can't be "grown" in a dish nor seen under a microscope. Even in developed countries, the parallels to today's COV-19 reaction cannot be missed. The arguments that authorities "exaggerate" the danger, or the disease "merely" kills the elderly or vaccines violate people's rights will sound familiar, and obviously with dire consequences. Even in 1918, local and federal governments argues the use of quarantine vs cordoning vs. masks vs large gatherings. "...the demands of national security, a thriving economy and public health are rarely aligned." The author points out that, with the rise of eugenics, public health campaigns in the 19th c. often targeted marginalized groups. When in reality, the underlying problem was overcrowding in city tenements, and immigrants acquired most of their health problems after they arrived not before.
There were three waves of the influenza pandemic, but the August 1918 wave was the deadliest. The author describes heliotrope cyanosis in detail, but some did not exhibit any symptoms, would mingle about the general public and very much like the Black Death, suddenly drop dead. One side effect was permanent discolored vision, resulting in a forever "washed out" view. Each country has its own dark story, not all of them following the same pattern of government or public reaction, which is important in contextualizing the pandemic.Overall great read and there's so much information packed into this 300-page book.
Show More
China, Philippines, Persia and South Africa. This made for an very interesting read because so many authors choose to discuss only the Western Hemisphere, or at least only America or Britain. In 1918, the world was devastated by World War I, and the term "super spreader event" does not even begin to cover it's impact of the H1N1 virus. Germ theory was still new, and unlike bacteria, as shown by Koch and Pasteur, viruses can't be "grown" in a dish nor seen under a microscope. Even in developed countries, the parallels to today's COV-19 reaction cannot be missed. The arguments that authorities "exaggerate" the danger, or the disease "merely" kills the elderly or vaccines violate people's rights will sound familiar, and obviously with dire consequences. Even in 1918, local and federal governments argues the use of quarantine vs cordoning vs. masks vs large gatherings. "...the demands of national security, a thriving economy and public health are rarely aligned." The author points out that, with the rise of eugenics, public health campaigns in the 19th c. often targeted marginalized groups. When in reality, the underlying problem was overcrowding in city tenements, and immigrants acquired most of their health problems after they arrived not before.
There were three waves of the influenza pandemic, but the August 1918 wave was the deadliest. The author describes heliotrope cyanosis in detail, but some did not exhibit any symptoms, would mingle about the general public and very much like the Black Death, suddenly drop dead. One side effect was permanent discolored vision, resulting in a forever "washed out" view. Each country has its own dark story, not all of them following the same pattern of government or public reaction, which is important in contextualizing the pandemic.Overall great read and there's so much information packed into this 300-page book.
Show Less
LibraryThing member LynnB
I loved the world-wide view and the multiple frames of analysis the author took. There were huge historical impacts of the Spanish flu, but also impacts on art, culture, memory....
The author wove facts and figures with human interest "dives" into individual stories, which I also liked.
The parallels
This book shows why history matters. And leaves me somewhat frustrated that the world was not better prepared to deal with the current pandemic. I hope someone does a similar analysis of COVID 19 when sufficient time has passed.
The author wove facts and figures with human interest "dives" into individual stories, which I also liked.
The parallels
Show More
to today's COVID 19 reactions can't be missed: arguments that authorities are exaggerating the danger, that mandatory vaccines are a violation of human rights, about the use of lockdowns, quarantines, masking. And the author's assertion that "the demands of national security, a thriving economy and public health are rarely aligned."This book shows why history matters. And leaves me somewhat frustrated that the world was not better prepared to deal with the current pandemic. I hope someone does a similar analysis of COVID 19 when sufficient time has passed.
Show Less
LibraryThing member richardderus
Pearl Rule #8 (7%)
The Publisher Says: With a death toll of between 50 and 100 million people and a global reach, the Spanish flu of 1918–1920 was the greatest human disaster, not only of the twentieth century, but possibly in all of recorded history. And yet, in our popular conception it exists
In Pale Rider, Laura Spinney recounts the story of an overlooked pandemic, tracing it from Alaska to Brazil, from Persia to Spain, and from South Africa to Odessa. She shows how the pandemic was shaped by the interaction of a virus and the humans it encountered; and how this devastating natural experiment put both the ingenuity and the vulnerability of humans to the test.
Laura Spinney writes that the Spanish flu was as significant—if not more so—as two world wars in shaping the modern world; in disrupting, and often permanently altering, global politics, race relations, family structures, and thinking across medicine, religion and the arts.
I spent $1.99 on Kindlesale. It makes me mad that I can't get it back.
My Review: I bought into the author's justification for not making the book one linear, beginning-middle-end story. The social parts and the science parts are very different and they interacted but were never remotely in sync, so trying to stay purely chronological sounds like a bad plan.
What I got instead was borderline incoherent, with paragraph-by-paragraph switches among authorial opinions, statements of fact unsupported by citations, and stodgy-wodgy bits of statistical stuff. This tiger of a topic was less ridden by the author than it rode the author. I felt frazzled by the time I realized I was not going to have a better experience later on...I flipped through some random spots and found that I was getting the same structure.
Not what I want, or what I will accept, from narrative non-fiction.
The Publisher Says: With a death toll of between 50 and 100 million people and a global reach, the Spanish flu of 1918–1920 was the greatest human disaster, not only of the twentieth century, but possibly in all of recorded history. And yet, in our popular conception it exists
Show More
largely as a footnote to World War I.In Pale Rider, Laura Spinney recounts the story of an overlooked pandemic, tracing it from Alaska to Brazil, from Persia to Spain, and from South Africa to Odessa. She shows how the pandemic was shaped by the interaction of a virus and the humans it encountered; and how this devastating natural experiment put both the ingenuity and the vulnerability of humans to the test.
Laura Spinney writes that the Spanish flu was as significant—if not more so—as two world wars in shaping the modern world; in disrupting, and often permanently altering, global politics, race relations, family structures, and thinking across medicine, religion and the arts.
I spent $1.99 on Kindlesale. It makes me mad that I can't get it back.
My Review: I bought into the author's justification for not making the book one linear, beginning-middle-end story. The social parts and the science parts are very different and they interacted but were never remotely in sync, so trying to stay purely chronological sounds like a bad plan.
What I got instead was borderline incoherent, with paragraph-by-paragraph switches among authorial opinions, statements of fact unsupported by citations, and stodgy-wodgy bits of statistical stuff. This tiger of a topic was less ridden by the author than it rode the author. I felt frazzled by the time I realized I was not going to have a better experience later on...I flipped through some random spots and found that I was getting the same structure.
Not what I want, or what I will accept, from narrative non-fiction.
Show Less
LibraryThing member bell7
Towards the end of World War 1, an influenza pandemic racked the globe. The strain was virulent, deadly, and affected young adults even more than children or the elderly. Science journalist Laura Spinney takes you on a bird's eye view, starting with stories of during the pandemic, and then
If I had not been reading this for a book club, I would not have finished it. I picked it up with some trepidation. Having just lived through two years of pandemic and sitting at what might be near the end or the beginning of a new wave, I was reluctant to read something that would draw parallels in my mind and have to discuss it. Thankfully, the first 100 pages or so was a fast read and though she described the flu symptoms and experiences around the world, I was not bogged down by memories of 2020.
Unfortunately, from there it becomes a disorganized slog. Though she tries to explain in the introduction why a linear narrative wouldn't work, I truly believe she would have been better served by a linear narrative. For example, though she briefly touches on the potential start of the pandemic, primarily talking about the name of the flu and why "Spanish" really isn't correct, she doesn't really address it until about halfway through the book when she spends a whole chapter explaining why it could have started in the U.S., China, or Germany. Spinney clearly has done a lot of research, and her narrative suffered, I think, in that she expects her readers to have more of a baseline knowledge of the 1918-19 pandemic than I did. Making discrete chapters out of the search for patient zero, scientific experiments, animals that can pass the flu, and more meant a lot of going back and forth in time and I didn't have a clear timeline to keep it all straight. And finally "how it changed the world" was a tall order that the book doesn't live up to. The final chapters really try to make the argument, but the strongest correlations are not causations, and there are a lot of "mights" and real stretches in politics and literature in particular.
Show More
reflecting back on it and arguing for its affect on politics and art across the world in its wake.If I had not been reading this for a book club, I would not have finished it. I picked it up with some trepidation. Having just lived through two years of pandemic and sitting at what might be near the end or the beginning of a new wave, I was reluctant to read something that would draw parallels in my mind and have to discuss it. Thankfully, the first 100 pages or so was a fast read and though she described the flu symptoms and experiences around the world, I was not bogged down by memories of 2020.
Unfortunately, from there it becomes a disorganized slog. Though she tries to explain in the introduction why a linear narrative wouldn't work, I truly believe she would have been better served by a linear narrative. For example, though she briefly touches on the potential start of the pandemic, primarily talking about the name of the flu and why "Spanish" really isn't correct, she doesn't really address it until about halfway through the book when she spends a whole chapter explaining why it could have started in the U.S., China, or Germany. Spinney clearly has done a lot of research, and her narrative suffered, I think, in that she expects her readers to have more of a baseline knowledge of the 1918-19 pandemic than I did. Making discrete chapters out of the search for patient zero, scientific experiments, animals that can pass the flu, and more meant a lot of going back and forth in time and I didn't have a clear timeline to keep it all straight. And finally "how it changed the world" was a tall order that the book doesn't live up to. The final chapters really try to make the argument, but the strongest correlations are not causations, and there are a lot of "mights" and real stretches in politics and literature in particular.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Castlelass
This book provides a global perspective on the “Spanish” influenza of 1918 (which did not originate in Spain) that killed between 50 and 100 million people. Chapter One recounts the history of flu viruses, providing the context for the rest of the book. The middle chapters focus on the virus
It provides a logical, well-structured discussion of the science behind viruses, germ theory, genetics, disease transmission, and what was (and was not) known in 1918. It speaks of the three waves of the virus, and how they were staggered in the northern and southern hemispheres. It calls attention to the fact that viruses mutate – this is a normal progression and should not be considered surprising or alarming.
Content includes the importance of detection, tracking the spread, and compliance with safety measures (masks, limits on mass gatherings, social distancing, vaccinations). There is a decent discussion of how flu can originate in animals and be transmitted to humans (bird, horses, ferrets). The importance of attaining herd immunity is stressed.
I appreciate Spinney’s analysis, which is based upon a detailed review of historical and scientific documentation. It includes anecdotes from people around the world – Australia, Brazil, China, UK, US, Persia, Russia, Samoa, Spain, South Africa, Vanuatu, just to name a few. It outlines the groundwork being done in the scientific community to study these viruses and enable vaccines to be developed more quickly. This book is a great example of how we can learn from what has transpired in the past.
I have an interest in both science and history, so I found it engaging. It is remarkable that the fallout we have seen in terms of social, cultural, political, and information delivery can all be correlated to what happened in 1918, but on a different scale due to less scientific knowledge and technological development. I think it is a good idea to read about influenza and pandemics in order to gain an understanding of the facts.
Show More
itself – where it originated (most likely Kansas, US), how it spread, and its impact throughout the world. The final chapter brings up the potential for future pandemics and what we can do to be prepared. It was released in 2017, so the “future” being described would include COVID-19. It provides a logical, well-structured discussion of the science behind viruses, germ theory, genetics, disease transmission, and what was (and was not) known in 1918. It speaks of the three waves of the virus, and how they were staggered in the northern and southern hemispheres. It calls attention to the fact that viruses mutate – this is a normal progression and should not be considered surprising or alarming.
Content includes the importance of detection, tracking the spread, and compliance with safety measures (masks, limits on mass gatherings, social distancing, vaccinations). There is a decent discussion of how flu can originate in animals and be transmitted to humans (bird, horses, ferrets). The importance of attaining herd immunity is stressed.
I appreciate Spinney’s analysis, which is based upon a detailed review of historical and scientific documentation. It includes anecdotes from people around the world – Australia, Brazil, China, UK, US, Persia, Russia, Samoa, Spain, South Africa, Vanuatu, just to name a few. It outlines the groundwork being done in the scientific community to study these viruses and enable vaccines to be developed more quickly. This book is a great example of how we can learn from what has transpired in the past.
I have an interest in both science and history, so I found it engaging. It is remarkable that the fallout we have seen in terms of social, cultural, political, and information delivery can all be correlated to what happened in 1918, but on a different scale due to less scientific knowledge and technological development. I think it is a good idea to read about influenza and pandemics in order to gain an understanding of the facts.
Show Less
LibraryThing member steve02476
Good history of the huge Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918-20. (Of course, not from Spain.) People then didn’t know much about viral outbreaks, esp since the term “virus” was just a vague theoretical concept. But having learned much more than I ever wanted to know about viral epidemics in the last
Very readable, but sometimes wandered a bit from the topic to explore little tidbits of history that didn’t have much to do with the flu.
Show More
3 years, it was amazing to read this book, published 5 years ago, and to realize how we could have been so much better prepared for COVID if only…Very readable, but sometimes wandered a bit from the topic to explore little tidbits of history that didn’t have much to do with the flu.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Catherine.Cox
Well written history of the 'Spanish' Flu with coverage of the whole world. This was a great history book and a good read to better understand how a societies overall healthcare frame work can completely change the outcome of an unexpected event.
Awards
Просветитель.Перевод (Longlist — 2021)
Language
Original publication date
2017