Rating: 
Summary: An Excellent Account of Science & History
Review: Perhaps the most famous plague epidemic in history is the Black Plague of fourteenth century Europe. However, plagues have struck repeatedly throughout history and continue to do so. In many ways much more devastating than the Black Plague was the influenza outbreak of 1918. The first truly worldwide plague, it was also the first epidemic of the modern scientific era showing both the strength and weaknesses of modern approaches to dealing with disease. Sadly, it is also a very neglected event in terms of written history. Mr. Barry has gone some ways toward filling that gap.I believe the first world war and its aftermath to be the most important historical period of the twentieth century. The outbreak of "Spanish flu" in the last month of the war were a critical influence on the sequence of events. Soldiers of every nation were devastated by influenza which had the surprising ability to kill men and women in the prime of life. One of the odd properties of this outbreak, which the author is clear to point out, was that it was more like to kill in the 18-35 year-old age range whereas typical flu kills only young children and the elderly (still at the rate of more than 36,000 per year in the United States). And this influenza may have killed as many as 100 million people worldwide (out of a population of 1.6 billion) making it--in pure numbers--the most devastating plague in history. That alone would make this plague an important historical event; however, this influenza may have done more. Mr. Barry speculates that Woodrow Wilson, when negotiating the Treaty of Versailles, whose terms led to World War II, was influenced to turn his back on his own principles and allow this treaty to be written because he caught influenza which laid him low at the height of negotiations and, though he recovered, may have done more to him that was realized at the time. The influenza may have affected his memory and set-up the conditions that would lead to his debilitating stoke in a matter of months. Who says disease cannot change the course of history? This is only one of the surprises Mr. Barry has in store for his reader, even one as familiar with the event as myself. He describes evidence that makes it very likely this "Spanish flu" had its origins in the United States--Kansas to be precise. He describes the incredibly poor state of the medical profession in the United States at the turn of the twentieth century and how, led by the inspiration of Europe, a handful of doctors turned American medicine into a science that still was not equipped to handle this emergency though they valiantly tried to do so. And yet, failures aside, they made great strides towards making the United States the powerhouse of modern science it ultimately became. To his credit, like the best historians of science, Mr. Barry not only gives us the history--tracking the spread, giving the number, analyzing the response--but he also gives us a look into the personalities that helped create and diffuse this situation. I am always interested in a book that gives an honest look at how the scientific mind works and how science progress because of actual people with various strengths and weaknesses. True, Mr. Barry is somewhat repetitive but his prose is generally quite readable. Something that cannot be said of all of his peers. We often like to think that modern science has basically conquered disease and, certainly, there have been great strides made. On the other hand, the threat of epidemic remains with us--even more so now with the threat of terrorist-generated epidemics. At some point we will realize that science cannot ever completely eliminate the threat of disease. How we deal with an emerging disease remains important as we have seen in recent years with things like AIDS, SARS and mad cow disease. Looking to the past can provide vital clues with how to deal with an outbreak on every level. Mr. Barry provides us with a interesting and in-depth look at one of the most important plagues in history. It is a subject I find endlessly fascinating and this is an account that should be read.
Rating: 
Summary: Where was the editor?
Review: Tangents, repetition, convolution. Barry crams a lot of facts in the 465 pages, but organizes the story poorly with constant repetition, odd leaps of time and place, and melodramatic language. Where was the editor who should have helped organize the story and cull the repetitions? Barry describes a medical community tipping a balance from "art" to "science" at the end of the 19th century, and yet frequently describes the influenza virus as though it had a will: "Nature chose to rage in 1918, and it chose the form of the influenza virus with which to do it.... It came in a masquerade. Then it pulled down its mask and showed its fleshless bone." Nature does not have a volition, viruses simply "are." Barry should have trusted inherent drama of the facts and simply told the story. Cut 100 pages of tangents and repetitions and the reader would be left stunned by the events, not reaching for caffeine.
Rating:
Summary: riveting; a tale well-told
Review: The author starts with the history of medical schools in the US as well as microbiology and the germ theory of disease. At first I thought, oh man, I won't get to the Flu epidemic for a week (it's a long book). But he somehow made it immediately compelling. It reminded me of the book Seabiscuit, only in that the author takes a subject I know nothing about and thought I cared nothing about, namely, microbiology, and made it not just interesting, but fascinating. I can't recommend it highly enough. I don't know how he made this such a page-turner, but it is just that. I feel like my IQ just went up about 20 points.
Rating:
Summary: Figures don't lie.....
Review: THE GREAT INFLUENZA by John Barry is probably the most difficult book I've ever read. No, it's not that complex, and it is not the longest book I've ever read, but it is heart-rending. I could only read 20-30 pages a day, with tears streaming down my face as I did, so it has taken me quite a while to finish the book, but finish I did. You certainly won't read this for fun, but you might for the sake of curiosity, which is what impelled me to take it on in the first place.
The Great Influenza was a disaster that very nearly wiped out civilization. The disease drew to a close of it's own accord. Doctors never found a cure, Barry says, "The virus was too efficient, too explosive, too good at what it did. In the end it did its will around the world."
The Great Influenza found humankind every where it lived. From the villages of Aleuts in Alaska to the jungles of Africa no one was safe. It began mildly and ended mildly because as it circled the world it mutated. Although it was called the Spanish Influenza (because the Spanish government actually informed the public of its presence and effects, whereas the US Government told lies and more lies about the disease), the Great Influenza probably started on a farm in the midwest and was spread overseas by troop movements during the Great War.
Barry's book traces the battle by medical personnel as they fought to save the lives of US military and in some cases civilians (civilians got the short end of the stick for the most part. Resources and funds and medical personnel were needed for the War effort).
Barry describes how John's Hopkins and Harvard built medical reputations based on the struggles of a few noted scientists who tried to find a way to prevent and/or cure influenza. He writes of the effort by medical research teams at the Rockefeller Institute and the Public Health Service to attempted to reach out to and alleviate the suffering of the millions of afflicted souls.
The treatments used to deal with the Great Influenza read like a chamber of horrors from the Middle Ages. Everything from bleeding to poisoning the host (victim) was brought to bear on the germs, but nothing prevailed. The death rates were high no matter what the treatment. One promising avenue involved the development of various vaccines using horses blood.
After reading this book, I understand better why physicians refer to their work as "practice" because that is what those who survived did. Unfortunately, like the Black Plague, the Influenza virus made no distinctions, so many of the dead included medical personnel.
The question today is...could it happen again. Barry leaves no doubt that you are not likely to get a straight answer from those in authority-never have, never will.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting but Flawed
Review: The other reviews pretty much sum it up for me - a fascinating and little researched event spoilt by melodramatic inserts. These matter because it makes you treat some of his other claims with scepticism - for example, the idea that Wilson caved in to the French at Versailles because his mind was affected by sickness, leading to reparations and WWII ie one of the side effects of influenza was (...) shows a basic lack of understanding of Wilson's personality. What I found particularly fascinating, and which Barry covers very well, was the extent to which the government took over control of American daily life in the name of the war effort. The suspension of personal freedoms and control over dissent was scary. My biggest criticism though is that I was expecting a history of a global pandemic - this book really only covers the US, Barry mentions 20 million dying in India v 675,000 in the US but only in passing. Maybe they should change the title!
Rating:
Summary: It was influenza, only influenza....
Review: This book is a sobering wake-up call to those of us who fret about exotic diseases like smallpox and the Ebola virus when we should be worrying instead about "only" influenza. Barry does an excellent job of describing why and how the 1918 influenza epidemic was so lethal, and he does not shy away from the disquieting conclusion that another lethal epidemic is inevitable. Moreover, it is clear that the greater mobility and density of modern life will work to our disadvantage when the next epidemic hits. This book was extremely well-researched, exhaustive, and well-written. However, it was not without its disappointments. First and foremost, the book got off to an extremely slow start, devoting approximately the first third to a detailed (and largely unnecessary) history of medicine throughout classical times and, in particular, the 19th century in the United States. Particularly grating was the author's rather gushing portrayal of the establishment of the Johns Hopkins University, a fine institution to be sure, but not quite deserving of the idolatry displayed by Barry. More generally, I was disappointed that so much of the book was devoted to institutional reactions to the epidemic, and less time and space was devoted to the human aspects of the story. The parts of the book I enjoyed the most were when Barry presented people's individual experiences with the epidemic, as revealed in letters, books, and interviews. These anecdotes conveyed much more vividly what it must have been like to live through the fear and panic wreaked by the epidemic. Alas, this kind of detail was in the minority in this very long book, which tended to stress instead the system-level reactions to the epidemic, for example, the (irritatingly apathetic) response of the military. Do these criticisms mean that the book is bad? No, not at all; it just means that it is a more scholarly work, intended to place the epidemic within a larger historical context, rather than provide an oral history of what it was like to live through the epidemic. Thus it is probably unfair of me to criticize it for not being something it did not intend to be; I'm just saying that readers who want primarily the more sensationalized, personalized story of the epidemic may very well be bored and frustrated by this book. I also wish the author had devoted more time than the brief chapter he included on discussing what lessons we can learn from the 1918 epidemic in helping us to cope with the (inevitable) next influenza epidemic. To me, the most interesting and provocative finding of the book was the author's description of how a very few communities were able to escape the epidemic virtually unscathed, and this was through a rapid response to the encroaching epidemic accompanied by a drastic and total closing of city borders. Quite simply, the areas that did not lose any lives to the epidemics were the towns that did not allow anybody to come in. This policy was effective where no other measures (wearing masks, shutting down public meetings, making spitting a crime) were, but the legal and logistical implications of such isolationism are staggering, and I wish Barry had explored them in depth. I wish this because--even though it is only influenza--we will probably in our lifetimes be confronted with such a crisis. Barry's book does an excellent job of explaining why we should be terrified at this prospect, but it falls short in telling us what we can do to minimize it.
Rating: 
Summary: Well written and fascinating
Review: This book is that rare combination of interesting writing and thorough research. Indeed it was hard to put down until I reached the middle of the book, when ironically the discussion of the epidemic itself bogged down. I frankly could have done with just a tad less drama (...it was, after all, just the flu). You get the irony of that statement if you've read the book. But really, isn't this tragedy enough drama in itself? One of the aspects that I quite enjoyed in this book was the in-depth history of American medical education and educators. I also liked learning about the people who were researching desperately trying to find answers. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and am glad I spent both the money and the time.
Rating:
Summary: a mesmerizing book
Review: This has just become one of my favorite books. It is a compelling read, like a real-life Stephen King novel. But it's built around a lot more than just plot and character. It also gives you tremendous insight into how the body works, how viruses work, and how diseases interact with the environment--- and it makes clear that one of the most important elements of the environment is the political climate. This book tells you more about Woodrow Wilson than most history books on World War I. Finally, it's extraordinarily well-researched and accurate: a doctor-friend who is actually a pulmonary expert told me it not only gets things right, but taught him something. I think it's obvious by now I love this book.
Rating:
Summary: Medical History at it's FINEST!
Review: This is an exceptionally well written and riveting account of one of the deadliest plagues in modern human history. Written in a manner that is comprehensible to both laypersons and medical professionals, John Barry provides fascinating detail into the medical, political, and social background underlying the Influenza epidemic of 1918. Providing remarkable details from mutliple sources, the book demonstrates the interwoven relationships between pandemic disease and the political and social fabric. As a military medical professional, I believe this text should be mandatory reading for anyone interested in the medical consequences of natural and/or man-made disasters. In the current era of bio-terrorism, this text provides many topics for thoughtful contemplation. Undoubtably, one of the best books I have read in decades!
Rating:
Summary: An great book
Review: This is the first and most thorough account of the terrible Influenza pandemic to come out in a while. This book tells the story of the worldwide plaque of Influenza that killed between 20-100 million people between 1918-1922. A wonderful book in separate chapters it details the rise of medical technology, the beginnings of the plaque and the terrible history of the pandemic. Riveting, fast paced writing makes this book easy to read and accessible to all. This is simply an amazing story about an overlooked disease that killed more then the Black plague and Aids put together, in some peoples estimates killing 10% of all adults, and certainly striking down many young men and women in the prime of their lives. The disease itself and its symptoms and outcome are detailed and so are the people who tried so hard to overcome the mysterious illness.
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