Pandemic 1918 by Catharine Arnold is a well written book about the 1918 Spanish flu. The first hand accounts painted a vivid picture of the horror that people faced during that time. It ties World War I into the story and explains how trying to stop the spread as in the case of Alaska and Australia was futile. The book also carries readers to the present and shares how researchers are working to prevent history from repeating itself. I have read several books about the 1918 flu, but this one was especially griping due to the first hand accounts of survivors and caregivers.

If you want to know more specifics about the 1918 pandemic beyond “it was the flu”without being overly technical or clinical, this book is an excellent choice. I was amazed by the wide spectrum of symptoms as well as their severity. Having officially having the flu once in my life I know it is a miserable experience. That experience has nothing on the 1918 pandemic victims and their experience. The real life experiences threaded throughout the book gave it depth that a normal historical rendition of the event would lack. Ways the book would have been improved would have been to move the open part to the end. I know it was put there as a hook for the reader but it doesn’t work effectively. A better way would have started with setting the stage of the WWI battlefield conditions which many readers are not familiar with and then weaving in a true story of one of the earliest victims. Also the flow of the chapters felt choppy, like each was written alone. In other words, the transitions were weak or lacking. One final observation is the sentences were overly long, losing the reader and packed full of unnecessary detail. For example I didn’t care to know the details of hierarchy of military victims: rank, squad, company, batallion, etc. It is because of these weaknesses that I give the book 3 instead of 4 stars.

I thought I knew quite a bit about the Pandemic of 1918. NOT. I have enjoyed learning all that PANDEMIC 1918 has had to offer. I found out that all that I knew of the pandemic is very limited. I had NO idea that the governments of the world didn't allow the press to advise the public of the severity of the virus. Just goes to show that governments should not be allowed to keep secrets. Especially when it comes to real dangers to humans. I had never heard of the flu being called the Spanish Lady. Yet, it seems to be a very common expression. The number of casualties just blew my mind. Dayum! It was considerably higher than I thought it was. Again.. thank you secretive governmental agencies for keeping the public in the dark.. even after a century.

Readers are going to love the individual stories presented in the book! It brings home the reality of what occurred during the Pandemic of 1918. How quickly folks died. The mass graves. The limited news stories. The lack of quarantining the afflicted as the governments of the world did not want to incite panic during WWI. The interesting aspects of what those in the medical field went through in wanting the government to quarantine the ill.. and also trying to understand what a virus was.. in comparison to bacterial.

A chilling real life account of what the public endured during one of the worst pandemics in history.. that killed more folks percentage wise.. than those that died during the black plague. Sadly.. I'm guessing less than five percent of the population has no idea that the Pandemic even occurred.

Princess Fuzzypants here: This is a fascinating book but I need to tell you it is not light reading. Some of the events are rather graphic and poignant. It is fascinating that The Spanish Flu, as it was coined, almost disappeared from memory for many people. For those who lived through it during the latter part of WWI, it shattered lives and changed everything. The death toll was astoundoing but so many other events eclipsed the event over the years that for many it was almost forgotten. We all know what we ignore we are doomed to repeat.
The book starts off with some of the discoveries that were made only after science was able to construct DNA. Even with the connections that have been made so that today the strain has been isolated and compared with other flu strains, the cause of it is still unknown. They have been able to pinpoint patient zero and to plot the inexorable spread of the disease. There were some humongous difficulties that had to be overcome to be able to test the virus. The passage of time, the conditions under which many of the bodies were buried, the chaos of war all conspired to make an almost insurmountable task. But a combination of persistence and luck finally offered the key.
There have been pandemics of flu in the intervening years but nothing as virulent and deadly as the Spanish Lady. That is not to say it can not or will not happen again and that is what makes the discoveries so important. There have been close calls since it is clearly linked to avian or bird flu. We can hope with the modern medical connections and sharing of data if it did emerge again, there would be both time and abilities to manufacture the drugs needed to moderate if not eliminate the effects. My paws are crossed.
It is a very scary thought that the world could go through something as insidious and horrible again. We know more now than we did then but humans being human do not always operate logically. And when you have to depend on common sense, we discover it not common at all.
I shudder but still give this book five purrs and two paws up.

The Spanish Flu killed MILLIONS of people and yet, so few know the details of the horror. Catharine Arnold has written a history book on this fatal disease and it provides details and stories that are heartbreaking just to think about now.

This was a plague. A Biblical proportion level plague. Arnold focuses much of the book on the flu in the U.S. but this was a worldwide disease. People were killed their homes, entire villages were wiped out, mass burial were EXCAVATED BY STEAM SHOVELS. STEAM SHOVELS.

This is a book that should be required reading for schools and all parents who question vaccines.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Thank you to Net Galley and St. Martin's Press for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! I enjoyed the book overall since the subject was interesting and something I hadn't read about before, therefore didn't have a ton of knowledge on. However, it did feel like a textbook-read and the writing was a bit dry. I think the writer could have done more to keep the reader interested, but I definitely learned a lot about a pandemic I hadn't thought much about!

What a great book! I was hooked from the beginning and I learned so much! It was one of those books that makes you not want to read it, yet you cannot put it down. The stories, the photos, and the many facets that pulled all the information together made for one of those "never forget" books. I am going to be adding this to my reading list for my students to be use for their book reviews.

I'm sorry, but I found this to be incredibly dry and repetitive. I think it is better suited for someone who is interested in disease and doesn't mind a textbook like feel for reading. Thank you for the opportunity to review this book.

Pandemic 1918 is the story of The Spanish Flu and the devastating effect it had during the early 20th century.

This was a harrowing read. Aside from a passing mention in Dennis Lehane’s “The Given Day”, I’ve been exposed to very little of the devastation caused by the Spanish Flu. It was an absolute monster estimated to have killed upwards of 100 million people worldwide (between 3 and 5 percent of the total population) and dealing a lasting generational effect for years to come.

Catharine Arnold’s book acts as sort of an aggregator in that she compiles countless recollections from those that lived it - sort of like those “oral history” books that have been enormously popular recently. The difference here is that Arnold carefully guides the reader through much of the chaos in pointing out the glaring mistakes made by those with the power to help hinder the procession of the disease. Looking back, given that it struck during the dying days of the first World War, governments had to walk the line between lifting morale and keeping the population safe. It also did not help that many were in complete denial about the severity of the flu until it was too late. During the latter half of 1918, which is the bulk of the book, an even deadlier second wave decimated millions.

The stories of the soldiers trying to survive the lethal flu while also battling the horrendous injuries and conditions brought on by war were heartbreaking. Even before reaching the battlefield, the soldiers would have to risk catching the virus traveling from North America to Europe aboard steamships. One particular crossing was told in detail when nearly one hundred recruits died and over two thousand fell ill while traveling in the massive USS Leviathan. Bodies were tossed overboard, without ceremony, just to clear the ship of the dead.

It goes without saying that here in good ol’ 2018, we take for granted just how accomplished we’ve become as a society in treating and preventing illnesses (at least here in the first world). It was only one hundred years ago that researchers and doctors were scrambling to find an effective treatment as the corpses piled up around them. That isn’t to say that we’re well-prepared for a pandemic today, should one occur. Near the end of the book, Arnold details the bird flu that struck China in the late 1990s and the near outbreak that occurred. Panic nearly caused preventative measures to go off the rails yet again - so it’s hard to predict if we’ll be ready today.

Pandemic 1918 is both an informative and terrifying read. The author notes that this particular chapter of human history has been more or less forgotten; which I suppose helps to explain why I barely knew anything about it. I highly recommend this one and although it took me the better part of a week to finish it, it was painful to have to put down.

This book covers the Spanish Flu epidemic that caused the loss of so many lives, and wreaked as much if not more havoc than the World War that was currently being fought. The author covers everything from "Patient Zero" to the end, and the book is filled with quotes, personal stories and pictures from that time.

Although I had heard of the 1918 Spanish Flu, until I read this I didn't really grasp the depth of destruction it caused. This book was horrifying, yet compelling to read and learn more. Some of the stories made me laugh, others made me want to cry. If you are a history buff, or even if you aren't, I think you should read this book.

This book was both fascinating and not, simultaneously. I don't know how else to describe it. While reading about the flu was interesting, it ended up getting repetitive very quickly. However, it was also interesting to read about all the different people it affected. All in all I think it will be a great read for someone with a little more interest in illnesses. 3 stars from me.

Most interesting were the victims’ and families’ experiences with the influenza. The war made the pandemic possible with the worldwide movement of troops and ships bringing the flu to every port. Since fighting the war was paramount, nothing could interfere, certainly not quarantine or delay in sending troops to the battlefield. In so many cities, health officials believed they could handle an epidemic and belittled efforts to protect people.
I’d heard of rumors that German U-boats had put the virus ashore in the US. I hadn’t known people believed the flu resulted from the use of poison gas in the war or from the scores of rotting corpses left to decompose on the battlefields.
The book had a bit of a slow start for me with the story of the hospital at Étaples and what a bleak spot for training it was at the Bull Ring.

pandemic, war-is-hell, historical-research, historical-places-events, history-and-culture, historical-figures, horror

This volume presents a more extensive study of the transmission of this deadly opportunistic disease as it used the vector of war and also relates names of those who suffered it still familiar these hundred years later. This presentation also goes into greater detail regarding the rigors suffered by the victims and does examine it all from the British perspective. The publisher's blurb is quite respectable and ought to be interesting to the general public. I, on the other hand, represent different segments: became an RN in 1968, addicted to history, have read other books and theses on the subject, grandmother had the disease and it left heart damage, uncle had it and was told that Parkinson's was a late side effect.
The writer reminds that there was no way to visualize a virus or prove animal or avian hosting and mutation at that time, and everyone on each continent was so terrified that even historic remedies were tried.
I requested and received a free ebook review copy from St. Martin's Press via NetGalley.

A gripping tale of the Spanish flu, or as it was also called the Spanish Lady. So many people succumbed to the disease in hours but many lived - what pray tell was the difference? The book tries to cover it all and does so in a very readable manner. The scariest thought is that something like this could happen again - A quite interesting book:; Hopefully we will never see something like this again.

A HORROR THAT FOREVER CHANGED MY FAMILY ... AND 50 MILLION ACROSS THE GLOBE

Pandemic 1918

The Spanish Flu killed my great aunt, who left behind a heartbroken husband and three young boys. That tragic event has echoed through generations of my family, so I snatched up PANDEMIC 1918 as soon as it appeared on NetGalley. This is a gripping read, one that needs to be shared in every history class across the land. We learn through eyewitness accounts of the world’s greatest medical holocaust, observing its 100th anniversary. I’ll let the publisher’s note describe this magnificent book by historian Catharine Arnold, while awarding it 5/5 stars.

“In January 1918, as World War I raged on, a new and terrifying virus began to spread across the globe. In three successive waves, from 1918 to 1919, influenza killed more than 50 million people. German soldiers termed it Blitzkatarrh, British soldiers referred to it as Flanders Grippe, but world-wide, the pandemic gained the notorious title of “Spanish Flu”. Nowhere on earth escaped: the United States recorded 550,000 deaths (five times its total military fatalities in the war) while European deaths totaled over two million.

Amid the war, some governments suppressed news of the outbreak. Even as entire battalions were decimated, with both the Allies and the Germans suffering massive casualties, the details of many servicemen’s deaths were hidden to protect public morale. Meanwhile, civilian families were being struck down in their homes. The City of Philadelphia ran out of gravediggers and coffins, and mass burial trenches had to be excavated with steam shovels. Spanish flu conjured up the specter of the Black Death of 1348 and the great plague of 1665, while the medical profession, shattered after five terrible years of conflict, lacked the resources to contain and defeat this new enemy.

Through primary and archival sources, historian Catharine Arnold gives readers the first truly global account of the terrible epidemic.”

Pub Date 28 Aug 2018  

Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the review copy. Opinions are fully mine.

#Pandemic1918 #NetGalley

It seems fewer and fewer people are aware of the epidemic 100 years ago, that took more lives worldwide than many wars. This is a fascinating, if sobering look at one of the most deadly pandemics in human history