Influenza Books

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The work involved in the project was fascinating to read. The description of the area where the project took place was vivid. The personalities involved added to the travails encountered in such an undertaking.

I have long been interested in the 1918 influenza epidemic, and I began reading this book immediately after finishing "The Great Influenza" by John M. Barry. "The Great Influenza" is a very scholarly work that gives a great deal of background about the medical profession in 1918, conditions in the US during World War I, and truly stirring accounts of how viruses and the immune system work. When I started "Hunting the 1918 Flu," I was hoping for an expansion on the science of the epidemic. That's not what I got.

I was leery from the start because in the introductory material the author goes into considerable detail about her record-keeping and note-taking practices (to the extent of claiming there were witnesses present during many of her phone conversations regarding her project). I wondered, "Why is this woman so defensive?" I found that science is only peripherally addressed in her book; the main theme is how poorly she was treated by almost everyone except her fellow Canadians and the Norwegians she encountered. The Americans, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, seem to be the bad guys in this story.

I tried hard to be open minded, but for the most part, I was unable to sympathize with the author. Every field of endeavor has its own politics, and it's not really very interesting to read about them. The author was a young woman, working in a field of study that was not her own, and at times her naivete shines like a beacon. It's not surprising that she was sometimes not taken seriously.

This book is very readable, and I'm sure the author is a very intelligent young woman. However, I think she would have served herself and her subject matter better by taking a more dispassionate tone. Her quest had the potential to be of true scientific value, and telling its story without all the histrionics would have made an interesting book.

I was initially worried that the book would be filled with complex scientific concepts, but everything was explained so that any reader could understand. The story about an expedition that was in danger of being stopped several times and the sheer determination of Dr. Duncan is inspiring. I also enjoyed learning about the people of Norway, who were so gracious and understanding of the importance of this expedition. I would highly recommend reading Hunting the 1918 Flu, as a reminder that history can and does repeat itself.

An enjoyable tool for learning about a real and significant threat, that serves as a wake-up for a generation complacent about our ability to manage infectious diseases.

I read this book cover to cover in one sitting. It's a very good read from a first time author. The plot is interesting, timely and fast moving. The characters are believable. The historical references are accurate and well researched. It's clear that the author is knowledgeable about emergency preparedness and response procedures as well as the politics of identifying and responding to an emerging pandemic. The story he tells has compelled me to learn more about preparing for the next flu outbreak and get my annual flu shot.

These are a well-written series of helpful books, I own a few including this one. Don't expect to be astounded but each have several more natural solutions for whatever topic and include scripture to go with the condition. Prayers and diet to go along with each treatment are a nice touch.

Margaret wants is a sister, a dog, and, most important of all, her mama's permission to study medicine so she can be a doctor like her papa. When a deadly flu epidemic threatens the entire state, Margaret must use what she learned from watching her father at work to protect herself and her brother and save a little girl's life.

This is a lovely story that will excite children's imagination. It shows little girls and boys as well that they can be what ever they set their minds to be. This book is great for bringing about discussions on medical history, the 1900's family life, and character lesson on determination.

We would recommed this book to mainly girl readers ages 9-12. If you enjoy the Little House on the Prarie series we feel that you will enjoy A Docotr Like Papa.

This is a journal with an entire issue devoted to the Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and its impact on America's Southwest. This is a great example of local history with a lot of original research put into the effort. For a study of the American experience, I would highly recommend this journal volume. It gives the general feeling and history of the pandemic while at the same time concentrating on a very specific, local impact. It is well worth the back order wait!

Being of the rhythm and blues generation I grew up listening to the blues and gospel music. I remember the "down home blues" back then also. Derrick's book describes the history of hip-hop and rap music in a way that help me to appreciate the artists and their skills. However, I remember when hip-hop went from positive to negative, causing a sense of being disrespected by some of the lyrics of the songs.

This book is a "must read", test your knowledge about hip-hop music and its culture.

I bought this book looking for information about Spanish Flu for a novel I was writing. I had already read other books on the subject and this one was a relief to read. It wasn't dry like much non-fiction tends to be. It was an interesting read. Though it wasn't a narrative non-fiction, it was filled with stories that accented the numbers and the big picture Kolata created about epidemic flu. Though I wasn't so interested in the history of disease and death chapter, most of the other ones were good. I found the human trials interesting. I am also fascinated by the cyclical jumps the flu seems to make between man, swine and birds. If you are interested in the study of influenza in general, this is a great start.

Kolata's book is a good history of influenza in the 20th century, but her skills at gathering and organizing a tremendous mass of information are unfotunately counterbalanced by a rather monotonous writing style. Even dropping personal details about the subjects of the book doesn't make me feel like they're real "characters". So in terms of entertainment, this book isn't that great.

As a graduate student, the real payoff for me is to see all the things I've been reading about for most of the last year - flu strains, scientists, agencies, experiments - put into context by a narrator. I've seen the names Taubenberger, Garcia-Sastre, Palese, et cetera, et cetera, more times than I want to, but this is the first time I've seen them as people and not just references for looking up stuff. As a budding scientist being forced to look up and read a lot of primary literature, it's easy to miss the forest for the trees.

So - recommended for laypeople who want to know what the fuss about flu is all about, and also recommended for students as a reminder that "science is not done by textbooks".

I loved this book, couldn't put it down. I learned a lot, not only about the 1918 flu, but about the science of virus research. The writing is very fluid. Kolata is on my short list of must-read authors.

This book reads like a work of fiction, but every word is fact. The story of the devastation of the 1918 Influenza Pandemic and the subsequent decades-long search for the virus that caused it will frighten even the most jaded among us. That this deadly virus could one day return and kill hundreds of millions makes most other potential disasters pale by comparison. Gina Kolata tells the story with skill. Everyone needs to read this book.

Gina Kolata's book is an informative look at the influenza pandemic of 1918. The author provides an opportunity to see the shortcomings of the world of science and medicine during that era. She also describes the search for the genetic make-up of this virus during the 1990's and the difficulties encountered even with the advancements in those fields.
She reveals the devastation wrought upon the human race around the globe using stories compiled from survivors and published accounts. From stories involving families dying together, to the barracks of the Army, to the streets of Philadelphia the loss is nearly inconceivable. Few places on Earth were spared the death and ravaging effects of this influenza. She details the excruciating symptoms of the virus and the rapid speed with which it was transmitted. The numbers are staggering with estimates of the dead ranging from 20 to more than 100 million. The death toll was so high that life expectancy in the United States dropped by 12 years in 1918. The equivalent numbers today would equate to the death of 1.5 million in the United States alone.
What the future will hold if an outbreak of this virus should strike again makes this book a compelling read. Ms. Kolata has researched and crafted a finely honed book that provides an open and honest vision of the potential disaster that lurks in the shadows. She has cast light onto this subject in a comprehensive as well as comprehensible manner. She has grasped the true nature and significance of the avian flu, as well as the importance of public awareness in the ability to cope with a future outbreak.

While this novel was on a subject that I usually find rather interesting, I found the work itself to be lacking. The "whisperings" in the margins only distract the reader and provide little to no substance to the work. Additionally, the subplot involving the origin of the popular soda recipe could have been better developed. Overall, I would not recommend this book unless you really are sick and stuck on the couch, but even then it won't make you feel much better.

I am ambivalent about Wickett's Remedy. (I read the paperback. I understand she rewrote it from the hard cover edition.) I enjoyed the historical setting. Myla Godberg did a good job of evoking the period of the Influenza epidemic. I got a good sense for the setting as well and could well accept her premise. The margin notes were, I thought, one of the most clever and effective literary devices I've encountered. Wish I'd thought of it!

However, there was something about the way the threads of this story were woven together that was unsatisfying. Or perhaps it is that they weren't, in fact, woven together very well. I wonder if, having set the stage for this complicated novel, she struggled to make it work. And then, suddenly, it was just over. As I said - unsatisfying. It wasn't a bad book, but it wasn't all that great.

I won't repeat the story, but the flu epidemic does make for an interesting background. The characters are believeable, the plot is fairly strong, the setting is well described, but yet it just lacks in places. It's almost as if the author was trying to tell two stories: one about the epidemic and the other about the stealing of the formula for Wickett's remedy which never really rings true. It's too bad because I feel that could have helped develop Lydia's character so much more.

It took me a while to get used to the marginal notes, but I did find them interesting. Shows that what one person sees could be quite different than what another sees. The other "additions" of newspaper articles, newsletters, etc. I found to be quite annoying at times.

Overall, it was a good read but sometimes more effort than it should have been.

It's lovely, with an inventive narrative. The whisperers are charming, funny, and heartbreaking. A beautiful novel, especially for those who love historical fiction.

Wickett's Remedy represents an idea that had a lot of potential but which never fully evolved into the novel it might have been. I have to give Goldberg credit for attempting some very ambitious narrative techniques (the marginal voices of the dead, the epistolary interludes from the present, while most of the novel proper takes place in the past), but they never fully mesh, and consequently, they feel more like a gimmick than a groundbreaking new narrative style.

For me, the novel proper (following the story of Lydia and the 1918 influenza epidemic) was FAR more interesting than the present-day story of how Wickett's Remedy was stolen and developed into a successful soda product. And the marginal voices of the dead were just that -- marginal. I never could make up my mind what I thought of that, which in itself is probably a sign that whatever Goldberg intended was never completely successful. At least, for me.

I understand that Ms. Goldberg substantially rewrote the novel for the paperback edition -- a rather daring choice -- but I can't speak to that edition. My comments pertain to the original hardcover. And for my money, it's nowhere close to her first novel, Bee Season, which I absolutely loved! Wicket's Remedy was interesting, but it never quite came together, and I never felt fully invested in the outcome of the story. A pity.

This book gives a day by day, city by city, nation by nation acount of the great influenza pandemic of 1918. Called the "Spanish Flu", the flu killed over 500,000 people in the USA, and anywhere from 20 million to 100 million worldwide. This book documents how it started in the shadow of World War 1, how it spread, and how cities, families, and institutions coped with the extremely virulent disease. There are many personal accounts given of different people in different locations, relating how the flu took family members and friends. Much attention is given to the US military bases, as the disease appears to have started in these camps by returning soldiers from Europe and then sread like a wildfire on a parched prairie. The death statistics are astounding and alarming.

The great flu pandemic of 1918 is charted and described from start to finish in this book. Since we have not experienced anything like it in the past nearly 90 years, it is hard for the reader to imagine the chilling horror and rank death that prevailed that deadly fall and winter of 1918.

I read this book because of interest in the current bird flu epidemic in China and SE Asia. Could we have another killer strain of influenza ravage the world as the "Spanish Flu" did in 1918? The answer to that question is unfortunately, "Yes". As explained in the book, viral flu RNA intermingles in the lungs and organs of humans, ducks, chickens, and pigs. Strands of RNA are shared and mingled and it is quite possible that another killer strain of influenza could terrorize the world. With international travel more available than ever, the virus could be transported worldwide in days, bringing death to every part of the globe. Since a vaccine takes time to make and distribute, a new devastating human flu strain could kill untold millions (perhaps billions) of people before treatment is available.

This book is a chilling reminder that despite our technological advances in medicine, we are still extremely vulnerable to viral disease epidemics (witness HIV virus, Ebola virus, etc.). Yes, it could happen again, and that thought sends chills through my being.

A very interesting book that will get you thinking about our current threat of a mutating bird flu.

Jim "Konedog" Koenig

Fortunately a handful of books have been published recently on this plague-like epidemic which wiped out over 20 million human beings around the globe in the frighteningly short time span of a couple of years. Picture the following scene: one moment your strapping and virile twenty-year something year old friend is at the peak of his life, within twenty-four hours a virus turns him blue, causes blood to ooze out of his mouth and sends him to a painful, fast and gruesome death. Sounds like the plot of a cheap Hollywood horror movie? It was a true occurence that was repeated in the millions around the world in 1918. If you want to read a gripping, informative and coherent account of the appearance, havoc wreaked, and sudden disappearance of this terrorizing influenza virus, 'Influenza 1918' is not the book to read. Iezzoni may possibly excel at creative writing, but writing a documentary is not her forte. She seems to have accumulated a mountain of unrelated stories and then has strung them together without theme or story-line. The individual families whose tragic fates we are allowed to follow make arbitrary and abrupt appearances in the book. Iezzoni fails to engage us on an emotional level in the horrendous fate of some of the individuals she has chosen to highlight. A great book will provide the reader with a new angle on a given topic. After reading this book I did not feel any more knowledgeable about the subject of epidemics, deadly influenza or how best to protect friends and family from deadly outbreaks. For a 60 minute review of the same subject, just borrow the Influenza 1918 dvd from your local library. A writer such as Jared Diamond could have turned this momentous event into a page-turning, yet highly informative thriller. If you are interested in learning about this killer, research all available books on the market before investing your time into a sub-standard treatment of the subject.

With news of bird flu in China mutating and puzzling scientests, I thought it timely to learn more about the 1918 flu pandemic. This book conveys the worldwide effects of the influenza and suggests some possible origins.
The frightening part is how inadequate the medical structure and the governments were in coping with the massive outbreak. At first I had to read the book in small doses, as it was depressing. Gradually I was caught up in the personal tragedies and the international scope of the pandemic and couldn't put the book down.
Piecing together individual's stories and interspersing research, the narrative seems fragmented at times. This makes me want to read further on the topic.

This is the companion book to the television documentary on PBS "The American Experience". It provides a concise history of the great flu pandemic of 1918. Flu mostly kills the old or unhealthy; this "Spanish flu" was most dangerous to those between 15 and 40, in the prime of life (p.16). It attacked suddenly and killed quickly. Medical science was helpless, it did not even know this was a virus. Scientists today don't know why this "Spanish flu" was so deadly or how to create a vaccine against it in time (p.220). Pathologist recovered the remnants of an RNA virus to identify it (p.223). The "Spanish flu" closely resembles a pig flu isolated in 1930. There is an interaction between humans, pigs, and fowl in this disease. This was the worst epidemic in American history.

Chapter 1 begins in Spring 1918 with influenza deaths in Fort Riley Kansas. The civilian influenza deaths weren't noticed until later. There was an epidemic of influenza in April 1918, people began to call it "Spanish influenza". Being at peace, Spain had no censorship about civilian life (p.37). The warring nations had shortages of food, clothing, soap, coal, and other essentials. (p.38). Plus stress and hardship? Chapter 2 explains that flu virusses live in birds, but require another animal, like pigs, to spread it to humans. These virusses are constantly changing, creating a problem for the human immune system. Chapter 3 deals with rumors, such as the spread of germs by the enemy Germans (p.67). If the author know more of history and sabotage she wouldn't mock this false idea. "The Enemy Within" by Henry Landau. This "Spanish flu" mostly killed "young, vigorous, robust adults". Before WW II more soldiers died from disease than battle.

Chapter 4 tells of the pandemic around the nation and across the world. Chapter 5 describes the failures of medical science to develop a vaccine. Test "volunteers" from a prison could not get the flu, but their doctor did, and died (pp.110-111). The shortage of doctors resulted in the use of dentists and veterinarians (p.115). This epidemic disrupted normal life. The worst-hit city was Philadelphia Penna (Chapter 6). Dead people were put out in the streets to be taken to mass graves, like during the Black Death in XIV century Europe. Fresh air and sunshine helped to cure (p.143). Then NY became "the deadliest place in the nation" (p.158). Sometimes the "dead" returned to life (p.169). The flu epidemic seemed to be accelerating (p.174). This flu epidemic seemed to end The Great War (Chapter 8). The cold weather of November was followed by a decrease in flu victims (p.177). But there were after-effects from this flu (p.184).

This book repeats the Big Lie that the "punitive peace" of WW I caused WW II. This "peace" did not result in the occupation and purge of the German ruling class of aristocrats and corporate leaders. They did not make this mistake after WW II (p.189). President Wilson was handicapped by his disease (pp.190-191). Insurance actuaries computed the cost of the Spanish flu (p.193). After the dying stopped the "Forgetting" started (Chapter 9). More Americans died in ten months than during the Civil War, more than all 20th century wars (p.204). Was it human nature to ignore this unpleasant reality (p.206)? "Swine flu" began in the autumn of 1918 and every fall after; it had the identical symptoms of the Spanish flu (p.210). Canine distemper is also similar. Dr. Richard Shope found the swine flu virus in 1930. One after effect was setting up national health departments to track disease (p.213). The drift and shift of the flu virus creates everlasting threats to humans (p.214).

What made the Spanish Lady so deadly to the 15 to 40 age group? Perhaps it was war-time rationing that deprived this generation of the food, minerals, and vitamins needed for a healthy body.

Worst epidemic? What about the Smallpox plague that wiped out the indingenous peoples of both North and South America?

If the "amateurish" comment meant this was not solve-the-whodunit material, I agree -- it's good bedtime, or escapism, reading. I don't think it should be classified under either Mystery or Suspense.

However -- the historical basis combined with modern elements made for an interesting plot. Some good characterization and steady unfolding of the storyline kept my attention until the end, and of course,

"Life is too short to read a badly-written book." ~ T.M.

I have rarely read a more absurdly amateurish book. In the hands of, say, Nevada Barr, the same story would have leapt off the pages. However, we have a book chock full of the inexplicable and the unexplained, cliches, improbabilities, two-dimensional stereotypes, characters acting out of character, ... in fact, to be brief, thoroughly poor and unskilled authorship.

See story summary above.

I enjoyed this mystery thriller. The locations in Alaska and the flashbacks to NYC all helped to bring a little more substance to this story. The characters did come of as a little shallow in my opinion. I also think a little more history could have been wrapped in the story. As with any fiction novel, I rarely read the whole jacket summary, for it gives away far to much information and leaves few surprises. I get the protagonists name and read the first couple sentences and that's usually all.

Recommended.

Nick Scott is back for another round of her favorite airplane archeology (bet you didn't know such a thing existed!) in THE RETURN OF THE SPANISH LADY. Author Val Davis sets up a nicely suspenseful scenario, but the cover blurb gives away everything, so I never had a chance to figure things out with Nick. Don't read the cover blurb!!!

I might have rated the book higher, if the cover hadn't taken away all the suspense. The 1918 characters were well done, and I liked those parts best. And if you haven't read TRACK OF THE SCORPION, the first Nick Scott book, you should do so, as this is a very nicely written and unusual series.

I'll give this book the benefit of the doubt and rate it as 5 stars, as I have not read it. But the plot is interesting: a biopharmaceutical company launches an expedition to retrieve (in secrecy) the viral remnants of the 1918 influenza outbreak. The place: the frozen landscape of Alaska. The target: deceased gold miners from the period.

The plot was so enticing in fact that I used it myself in an earlier book. If you'd like to read a carefully researched, and much longer version of this story (at 662 pages) check out Ninth Day of Creation, ISBN 0967571294.

Most likely Davis just had the same idea as I did, though I seem to have got to print earlier. Personally, I think an outbreak similar to 1918 is just a matter of time, so the information contained in the "Spanish Lady" genome is valuable, and will remain so. I might also point out that between me beginning and finishing my book, the genome was in fact located at the Armed Forces Institute in the wax-preserved autopsy material of 1918 victims. The results of the genetic sequencing of this material should be completed within the decade...

Leonard Crane, author of Ninth Day of Creation