Description
Book Synopsis#1 New York Times bestseller
“Barry will teach you almost everything you need to know about one of the deadliest outbreaks in human history.”—Bill Gates
Monumental... an authoritative and disturbing morality tale.—Chicago Tribune
The strongest weapon against pandemic is the truth. Read why in the definitive account of the 1918 Flu Epidemic.
Magisterial in its breadth of perspective and depth of research,
The Great Influenza provides us with a precise and sobering model as we confront the epidemics looming on our own horizon. As Barry concludes, The final lesson of 1918, a simple one yet one most difficult to execute, is that...those in authority must retain the public's trust. The way to do that is to distort nothing, to put the best face on nothing, to try to manipulate no one. Lincoln said that first, and best. A leader must make whatever horror exists concrete. Only then will peop
Trade ReviewOver a year on The New York Times bestseller list"Monumental... powerfully intelligent... not just a masterful narrative... but also an authoritative and disturbing morality tale."
—Chicago Tribune
"Easily our fullest, richest, most panoramic history of the subject."
—The New York Times Book Review
"Hypnotizing, horrifying, energetic, lucid prose..."
—Providence Observer
"A sobering account of the 1918 flu epidemic, compelling and timely.
—The Boston Globe
"History brilliantly written...
The Great Influenza is a masterpiece."
—Baton Rouge Advocate Table of ContentsPrologue
Part I: The Warriors
Part II: The Swarm
Part III: The Tinderbox
Part IV: It Begins
Part V: Explosion
Part VI: The Pestilence
Part VII: The Race
Part VIII: The Tolling Of The Bell
Part IX: Lingerer
Part X: Endgame
Afterword
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Index
