This was a heavy, long and intense read, but it was well worth it. Barry chronicles in great detail the course of the flu pandemic that erupted just before the end of WWI, killing at least 100 million people. (That number, like other assertions in the work, is the subject of some scientific debate. There are virology blogs - cool, huh? in which people argue some of his points; however, the book was very well reviewed by most standard sources.) In any case, I can't tell you how on target Barry's science is; I can say that the book is heavily footnoted and contains a truly impressive bibliography. Some things I learned: the virus apparently emerged initially in mild form in Kansas; Philadelphia was one of the hardest-hit cities in the U.S.; St. Louis fared better, having instituted strict quarantines; in its worst forms, the 'flu' was a truly gruesome death. The narrative derives its strength from Barry's outrage at the foot-dragging of many public health and military officials, whose poor decisions may have cost many lives. He directs particular venom at Woodrow Wilson, claiming that his strategy of pouring all national resources toward the war effort overseas weakened the ability of domestic officials to cope and left great swaths of the country with only the most poorly qualified medical professionals to assist them.
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