Dealing with a pandemic of our century has brought about a desire to learn the history of other historical pandemics. This book is a reprint that quickly became popular again as we wish to learn what we could do different to avoid the losses of such influenzas of the past. It is still close to the cuff for many readers but might have a mass appeal since it parallels current times. Some might find it a slog and a name fest, while others might appreciate the depth the writer went to depicting all angles. The book is available in all formats. I have a feeling this book will find it's place along current reads about Covid-19.

While this is a fascinating and vital topic now more than ever, I had a very hard time sticking with this book. It seems unnecessarily bloated with details and poorly edited. It would have benefited greatly from judicious slashing and polishing.

This is an extremely detailed book that reviews a medical history of (mostly) the United States. Throughout this history, the Spanish Flu history is woven in, becoming the focus when you are already a good deal into it. It's engaging and extremely effective in its storytelling and best when it focuses on the people and personalities of the scientists and doctors who were major players at the time.

Who would have thought that a book about a medical catastrophic event could be such a page turner? The research that was involved for this book to come to life is boggling. It is a who’s who in the medical world at the turn of the century. What was so intriguing was how egos, politics, money, and hierarchy could step in the way of progression to understand and combat this disease. His narrative was terrifying of how this influenza spidered out across the world….an engrossing chain of events that led to death across all the continents. With the descriptions of how many people succumbed to the disease and the efforts of the tireless workers in the hospitals and labs who themselves contracted the illness, it’s wonder how the world survived at all.
This should be a must read for all those who refute what is happening in 2020 with the Corona virus. It’s all right there in this book!

Interesting fact: the Spanish Flu actually originated in the U.S. John M. Barry gives a brief history of epidemiology and tells how viruses morph - extremely appropriate in 2020. Barry does a fantastic job of explaining complex medical concepts in a way that non-medical folks can understand. As frightening as COVID-19 is, the 1918 influenza pandemic was far more terrifying: the author's descriptions of blood spurting from those struck down and the sound made when victims were turned over in bed are nightmarish.

Although The Great Influenza was not what I expected, it is definitely worth reading. It begins with the history of the development of modern medicine in the United States, and the development of Johns Hopkins and the Rockerfeller Institute. The book traces the origin of the influenza pandemic of 1918, and tracks it's worldwide spread. It gives great insight into the world of research scientists as they worked night and day to find a treatment or vaccine.

This book also discusses more recent epidemics, and is relevant to the current pandemic. It also discusses steps taken that were innefective; the wearing of surgical and cloth masks - useless, and widespread lockdowns that did little good and irreparable harm. The book also mentions methods that proved to be effective: i.e., social distancing and the washing of hands.

I would recommend this title to anyone interested in medical history.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received a free digital copy of this title to review from Net Galley.

#TheGreatInfluenza#NetGalley

Although interesting, I was disappointed. The book was excessively detailed. The first 5+ chapters were about the history of medicine in United States - with 0 mention of the flu outbreak.

You’ve heard lots of comparisons to influenza during this pandemic, and you’ve probably heard a lot more about the flu of 1918 than ever before. Often called the “Spanish Flu” (not because it started in Spain but because Spain was just the first to report it in the press), the 1918 flu was the deadliest pandemic since the bubonic plague outbreak in the mid-1300s. John M. Barry’s The Great Influenza, originally published in 2005, is widely considered to be the definitive book on the subject, so I picked it up to increase my knowledge of viruses and pandemics in the middle of the world’s worst pandemic since 1918. It didn’t disappoint.
A feature of Barry’s book that I wasn’t expecting was his deep knowledge of the biological factors of viruses. He spends quite a bit of time explaining influenza viruses in general, how strains differ from each other, what makes them lethal, and how they can become even more lethal. Barry stresses the importance of the shapes of viruses because the design of a virus affects its interaction with the human body. He writes:
For in biology, especially at the cellular and molecular levels, nearly all activity depends ultimately upon form, upon physical structure — upon what is called “stereochemistry.” The language is written in an alphabet of pyramids, cones, spikes, mushrooms, blocks, hydras, umbrellas, spheres, ribbons twisted into every imaginable Escher-like fold, and in fact every shape imaginable. Each form is defined in exquisite and absolutely precise detail, and each carries a message. Basically everything in the body — whether it belongs there or not — either carries a form on its surface, a marking, a piece that identifies it as a unique entity, or its entire form and being comprises that message. (In this last case, it is pure information, pure message, and it embodies perfectly Marshall McLuhan’s observation that “the medium is the message.”) Reading the message, like reading braille, is an intimate act, an act of contact and sensitivity. Everything in the body communicates in this way, sending and receiving messages by contact.
This is a fascinating way to think about biology, and Barry employs this line of thinking effectively throughout the book. But he doesn’t just discuss the biology of influenza viruses. There is a surprising amount of discussion of coronaviruses throughout the book, including a tidbit that influenzas and coronaviruses have in common. He points out that
In most life forms, genes are stretched out along the length of a filament-like molecule of DNA, deoxyribonucleic acid. But many viruses — including influenza, HIV, and the coronavirus that causes SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) — encode their genes in RNA, ribonucleic acid, an even simpler but less stable molecule.

Several features set the 1918 flu apart from our current pandemic. First, it had a higher death rate (about 2.5%). Also, it differed from less severe strains of influenza in that most of the people that died were in their 20s and 30s. This is because the 1918 strain caused a “cytokine storm”, an overreaction of the body’s immune system. Thus, those with the strongest immune systems were paradoxically the most at-risk. The deaths also occurred in three distinct waves, the most deadly of which was the second wave in the fall of 1918. (It’s too soon to say for sure if COVID-19 will have multiple waves.) Finally, the 1918 flu occurred during the height of World War I. Barry discusses its effects on the war and its spread on the war front. But the war also affected the virus and the government’s response to it. Because of the war, the governments of the United States, Great Britain, France, and Germany did not allow media outlets to report on the disease outbreak. So, although most scientists now believe that the 1918 influenza began in Kansas, it first received media attention in Spain (a neutral nation during World War I) and became the Spanish flu. (Yes, that means if we’re going to name it after a place, it should be called the American flu. But I would also be OK with the Jayhawk flu.) The governments were so focused on the war effort that, in the middle of the pandemic, the US government still pushed citizens to buy war bonds! Treasury Secretary William McAdoo wrote “Every person who refuses to subscribe or who takes the attitude of let the other fellow do it, is a friend of Germany and I would like nothing better than to tell it to him to his face. A man who can’t lend his govt $1.25 a week at the rate of 4% interest is not entitled to be an American citizen.” Yes, in 2020 the government sends out $1200 stimulus checks. In 1918, they asked you to give them money each week. In some ways, life could not be more different.

There are many aspects of the 1918 flu that, however different it may have been from COVID-19, still rang familiar. Barry writes that “American society hardly seemed to be dissolving. In fact, it was crystallizing around a single focal point; it was more intent upon a goal than it had ever been, or might possibly ever be again.” Despite the widespread skepticism around COVID-19 (of which there are parallels in 1918 as well — just wait), this sounds true of our current situation to some extent. It is still amazing to me how most everyone just hopped on board to the greatest societal change in recent history, even as politically divided as we are. However, this was an easier case to make a few weeks ago as I was reading the book than it is now.
Most areas with an outbreak were shut down, very similar in scope to today, with the exception that all interventions happened locally. There were no sweeping orders. Barry explains:
Only rigorous and ruthless isolation and quarantine could even slow it down. No scientist and no public health official had the political power to take such action. Some local authorities might take some action, but no national figure could.
And, although my city doesn’t look quite like this right now, his next quote is reminiscent of what I’ve heard from other cities in the last month:
The city was frozen with fear, frozen quite literally into stillness. Starr lived twelve miles from the hospital, in Chestnut Hill. The streets were silent on his drive home, silent. They were so silent he took to counting the cars he saw. One night he saw no cars at all. He thought, “The life of the city had almost stopped.”
But other similarities lie in the misinformation spread during the 1918 flu. All manner of people undercut the severity of the virus. I’ll relay all the quotes together, and you’ll get the point. It’s haunting how much these mirror our reality.
“Spanish influenza — what it is and how it should be treated: . . . Always Call a Doctor/ No Occasion for Panic. . . . There is no occasion for panic — influenza itself has a very low percentage of fatalities. . . . Use Vicks VapoRub.”
I laughed out loud at “use Vick’s VapoRub”.
The camp called upon Little Rock for nurses, doctors, linens, and coffins, all while within the city the Arkansas Gazette declared in headlines, “Spanish influenza is plain la grippe (the flu) — same old fever and chills.”
And finally:
In 1918 fear moved ahead of the virus like the bow wave before a ship. Fear drove the people, and the government and the press could not control it. They could not control it because every true report had been diluted with lies. And the more the officials and newspapers reassured, the more they said, There is no cause for alarm if proper precautions are taken, or Influenza is nothing more or less than old-fashioned grippe, the more people believed themselves cast adrift, adrift with no one to trust, adrift on an ocean of death.
That’s how it feels sometimes in our current society: adrift with no one to trust. But you can find those to trust. As Fred Rogers once said and has been quoted many times in the last couple of months, “Find the helpers”. Where people are trying to help, not looking to false reassurance or attempting to blame someone else, focus on them.
Reading John M. Barry’s The Great Influenza was enlightening for many reasons. He taught me more about the science behind viruses like influenza and coronavirus. Barry’s narrative brought out interesting comparisons and contrasts to today’s pandemic even though it is 15 years old, and the updated edition I read also included an afterword analyzing recent responses to outbreaks such as the Hong Kong virus, avian flu, and swine flu. I’m sure Barry is busy preparing thoughts on this pandemic and there might be another edition to come in a year or two. In the meantime, I highly recommend reading up on this one. Stay safe.
I received a review copy of The Great Influenza courtesy of Penguin Books and NetGalley, but my opinions are my own.

Very informative book of the history of the Great Influenza. I specifically enjoyed learning the history of medicine and the medical school progression in the United States.

This would have been better as two separate books, as the author focused on too many facts for one book. The title leads you to believe that this is about the Spanish flu of 1918, but the author went and included information on the creation of John Hopkins and the Rockefeller Institute. I think that the stories of founding those institutions would have been better as a separate book. The writing of this book was also long-winded and repetitive at times.