The Great Influenza

The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History

By: John M. Barry

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 19 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

In the winter of 1918, at the height of World War I, history's most lethal influenza virus erupted in an army camp in Kansas, moved east with American troops, then exploded, killing as many as 100 million people worldwide. It killed more people in 24 weeks than AIDS has killed in 24 years, more in a year than the Black Death killed in a century. But this was not the Middle Ages, and 1918 marked the first collision between modern science and epidemic disease.

Magisterial in its breadth of perspective and depth of research, The Great Influenza weaves together multiple narratives, with characters ranging from William Welch, founder of the Johns Hopkins Medical School, to John D. Rockefeller and Woodrow Wilson. Ultimately a tale of triumph amid tragedy, this crisis provides us with a precise and sobering model as we confront the epidemics looming on our own horizon.

©2004, 2005 John M. Barry (P)2006 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"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)

Lots of info on progression of medical field

This book is great. At first i was getting bored with the medical history lesson and wasnt quite sure how it all related to the title, but it all came together. Its amazing all of the things that came together to create the perfect storm for this plague to cause so much death ad destruction. The scope of the deaths was far more then i first imagined.

This book was very informative, if not unsetteling. I recommend this to everyone.

Scott brick does an awsome job with the narration.

Back to the future?

It’s almost as if you could remove the word “influenza” and replace it with COVID-19...almost.

What is certain is that, as usual, humanity has learned nothing at all from past mistakes, those we should listen to see ignored and those who we should ignore are placed on a pedestal.

Interesting topic, difficult listen

I am finding plagues in history fascinating. The Great Influenza is one I was curious about, so I downloaded this book. I felt a bit mixed about listening to it. The information may be more than necessary to learn the facts, or it may just be this information went into way too much depth. All I know is I kept finding myself thinking about other things while listening to the book. It was hard to focus on what was being said.

I learned from this book. I find the Great Influenza is a piece of history that has not been covered much and I am not sure why. I found parts very educational. I just also found some parts to be of so little relevance but taking up huge amounts of the book. It made me lose focus on the story.

I cannot say much about the reader. I didn't like or dislike him. I think he has a very different reading style, but it works for the most part.

comprensive

Includes a history of medicine that starts "Hippocrates was born..." and plenty about viruses, too. Brings to life this frightful forgotten plague that killed up to 100,000,000 people.

Captivating and in depth

Extremely good look at the setting in which the 1918 Pandemic occurred, how it affected society, how it infected individuals, and the implications a similar virus could have today.

fascinating

Eerily pertinent story in Covid America. the afterword is chilling when you remember this was written before Covid.

Covid 19 was predicted

Every aspect. Including the govt. by hiding it creates the worst case scenario.
I had to skip the last 6-8 chapters because it went on and on and on. It did not need to be as long.

The Ultimate Book on the 1918 Pandemic

Excellent background of what lead up to what happened in 1918 with medicine, politics and world wide reaction to the great flu of 1918. Putting this pandemic into historical context was so educating. The saddest thing about this book, now that we are living through our own pandemic, is how many similarities there are to the reaction this time. We should have learned - if only we had a president and people around him that could read we might have had a better reaction this time. But alas, as the saying goes, those who ignore history are bound to repeat it. I highly recommend this book.

fascinating history, slightly annoying narration

The book starts by reviewing the state of medicine and medical education leading up to the 1918 pandemic then goes on to describe how viruses infect and replicate. next the book reviews theories of where in the world the pandemic started and how the Great war helped it spread. The afterward implores the those in position of leadership to put more resources into influenza prevention and preparedness but does so in such a preachy manner that is hard to listen to. The narration had an annoying ethereal tone and I kept imagining it being read by someone who can read it more matter-of-fact-ly.

Fascinating, thoroughly researched, informative

This book is so throughly researched, it is encyclopedic. It is also written in a gripping manner with a storyline that informs and entertains at the same time. There are also many correlations to the current COVID-19 situation and the book provides many lessons that apply to this situation too. The reader does a great job with the text. Highly recommend.