Pale Rider
The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How It Changed the World
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4.2 • 79 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
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 Spanish 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. Pale Rider is a masterful account of the catastrophe that forever changed humanity.
Customer Reviews
Timely
I write this review as I am home-bound due to the 2020 COVID-19 flu. How timely and appropriate. (And I started reading before the coronavirus hit!)
Spinney includes a history - and prehistory - of flu, the microscopic actions that allow viruses to do their thing, the rights and wrongs of governmental response, the scientific breakthroughs that led to the understanding and actions on the flu, and much more. Even how the naming of the flu happened, and why that nomenclature changed - even though with COVID-19, the politicians are still playing the game.
Spinney is an engaging writer, so this is far from a drab reprisal of what happened. Worth a read at any time, and a prophetic warning of ignoring the signs for the future.
Book can be much shorter
Very little information about the actual 1918 flu. There was a lot of background information that had little relevance to the subject and not written very orderly. The book could probably be cut in half, had to stop reading midway because I couldn’t take it anymore.