The Great Influenza

The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Plague in History (originally subtitled The Epic Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History) is a 2004 nonfiction book by John M. Barry that examines the 1918 flu pandemic, one of the worst pandemics in history. Barry focuses on what was occurring in the United States at the time and attempts to place it against the background of American history and within the context of the history of medicine.[1] The book describes how the flu started in Haskell County, Kansas, USA, and spread to the U.S. Army training camp Camp Funston, Kansas, USA, and around the world through troop movements during World War I.

This article is about the book. For the article about the Great Influenza pandemic, see Spanish flu.
The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Plague in History
AuthorJohn M. Barry
CountryUSA
LanguageEnglish
SubjectPandemics
PublishedNew York, New York
PublisherViking Press
Publication date
2004
Media typeprint
Pages546
ISBN978-0670894734
OCLC271407049

Background Information

The 1918 influenza pandemic has been declared, according to Barry's text, as the 'deadliest plague in history'. The extensiveness of this declaration can be supported through the following statements: "the greatest medical holocaust in history"[2] and "the pandemic ranks with the plague of Justinian and the Black Death as one of the three most destructive human epidemics".[3] Although the origin site for the pandemic has been widely debated, Barry follows the research findings of epidemiologist Edwin Oakes Jordan to claim that the disease originated from Haskell County, Kansas and was spread to army camps, across the US and then to Europe.[4]

Reviews

A 2004 Journal of Clinical Investigation review said that the book was "well conceived, well researched, and extremely well written" targeting a broad audience-physicians, scientists, medical students, and history buffs.[1] Barry Gewen of The New York Times praised it saying "He is a good teacher, in part because he assumes that his readers don't know anything. He explains the technical stuff clearly, with nice, homey analogies".[5]

Reaction

In the summer of 2005, then-President George W. Bush read the book while on vacation at his ranch in Crawford.[6] His study would later set forth plans for the federal government to prepare for future pandemics in a November 2005 speech.[7]

In 2020, the book experienced a surge in popularity as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.[8]

References
  1. Palese, Peter (15 July 2004). "The great influenza The epic story of the deadliest plague in history". Journal of Clinical Investigation. 114 (2): 146. doi:10.1172/JCI22439. ISSN 0021-9738. PMC 450178.
  2. Waring, J. I. (1971). "A History of Medicine in South Carolina 1900–70". South Carolina Medical Association: 33.
  3. Starr, I (1976). "Influenza in 1918: recollections of the epidemic in Philadelphia". Annals of Internal Medicine. 85: 516–518.
  4. Humphries, M. O. (2014). "Paths of Infection: The First World War and the Origins of the 1918 Influenza Pandemic". War in History. 21: 61–62.
  5. Gewen, Barry (14 March 2004). "Virus Alert". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
  6. Mosk, Matthew (5 April 2020). "George W. Bush in 2005: 'If we wait for a pandemic to appear, it will be too late to prepare'". ABC News. Retrieved 5 April 2005.
  7. Charatan, Fred (12 November 2005). "Bush announces US plan for flu pandemic". BMJ (Clinical Research Ed.). 331 (7525): 1103. doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7525.1103-b. PMC 1283304. PMID 16282397.
  8. "Paperback Nonfiction Books - Best Sellers". New York Times. 17 May 2020. Retrieved 15 June 2020.


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