Pale Rider

The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How It Changed the World

By: Laura Spinney

Narrated by: Paul Hodgson

The haunting story of a virus that triggered the worst pandemic of modern times.

“Both a saga of tragedies and a detective story.” —The Guardian

The flu pandemic of 1918–1920 was one of the greatest human disasters of all time. It infected a third of the people on Earth—from the poorest immigrants of New York City to the king of Spain, Franz Kafka, Mahatma Gandhi, and Woodrow Wilson. But despite a death toll far higher than that of World War I, the 1918 flu is little more than a historical afterthought.

In this gripping narrative history, Laura Spinney reveals how the virus traveled across the globe, exposing humanity’s vulnerability and putting our ingenuity to the test. She demonstrates how the 1918 flu shaped the modern world by disrupting, and often permanently altering, global politics, race relations, and family structures.

Now with a new afterword reflecting on the impacts of COVID-19, Pale Rider is a masterful account of the catastrophe that forever changed humanity.

Critic reviews

“Impressive… Set against the devastating backdrop of global contagion, it is individual lives and deaths, discovered in letters, diaries, biographies and memoirs, that epitomize this rich account. Spinney invokes potent images… Along with exemplary research, Spinney’s narrative is packed with fascinating, quirky detail… As the centenary of this monumental event approaches, other volumes on the pandemic will undoubtedly appear. Pale Rider sets the bar very high.”—Nature

“Both a saga of tragedies and a detective story… Pale Rider is not just an excavation but a reimagining of the past. As the book progresses, the flu is cast increasingly as a character that crops up Zelig‑like at important moments in history, altering the course of events previously unattributed to it.... Compelling.”—Guardian

“A book about the Spanish flu could so easily be dreary‑complex pathology interwoven with pervasive tragedy. Not so Pale Rider. I’ve seldom had so much fun reading about people dying. Laura Spinney, a science journalist, is adept at explaining arcane scientific research in an entertaining, comprehensible way… With superb investigative skill and a delightfully light‑hearted writing style, Spinney extends her analysis far beyond the relatively short duration of the plague… Spinney finds it odd that we know so little about the worst calamity to affect the human race. So do I. There are tens of thousands of books about the First World War, yet that flu is, arguable, more relevant to our world. While global war is, we hope, a thing of the past, global pestilence hovers like a vulture.”—Times

“Spinney argues that almost a century later, the Spanish flu is ‘still emerging from the shadows of the First World War’ in our collective memories. She sets out to rectify this, knowing just which medical mysteries and haunting vignettes will give the pandemic full purchase on our imaginations.”—New York Times Book Review

“Wide‑sweeping… Spinney is a storyteller with a science writer’s cabinet of facts. Retracing influenza’s death trail over nine continents, she attempts to show how the flu affected not only the war‑torn West but also remote communities in South Africa, China, and Brazil. The book reveals how desperately and differently people reacted and how gravely the flu influenced the modern world, touching everything from medicine to business and from politics to poetry.”—Science

extremely informative; must read

this book goes into the mechanics of a flu pandemic. I found it extremely informative and I feel like I understand the reality of flu. I like how the author ties the rise of the Trump family to the 1918 flu pandemic.

Required Pandemic Reading

I learned so much about the current pandemic from this book. It helped me to see many positive possibilities that can come from this mess.

history repeats itself

I always knew that history of repeated itself but I never had any idea that that could still be true when it came to illness. A fascinating history of influenza and its impact on the world. although the focus is on the Spanish flu, this book is truly amazing and the overall picture of a pandemic. excellent!

Required reading

How did we ever-as a civilization-forget about the 1918 flu?? This should be required reading for all, and especially now during the pandemic. The parallels are uncanny, but more so our response to a shared threat and our collective behavior. Urge everyone you know (regardless of political bend) to read this book. It is an enlightening experience.

Now more than ever

What a beautiful book! It is a horrific topic but
Oh how important it is to think about The Great
Influenza and how it changed the world. And how we are still finding new pieces of history
that change the way we look at WW1 and the history of epidemics.