The Great Influenza

This article is about the book. For the article about the Great Influenza pandemic, see Spanish flu.

The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Plague in History

Author	John M. Barry
Language	English
Subject	Pandemics
Published	New York, New York
Publisher	Viking Press
Publication date	2004
Publication place	USA
Media type	print
Pages	546
ISBN	978-0670894734
OCLC	271407049

The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Plague in History (originally subtitled The Epic Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History) is a 2004 nonfiction book by John M. Barry that examines the 1918 flu pandemic, one of the worst pandemics in history. Barry focuses on what was occurring in the United States at the time and attempts to place it against the background of American history and within the context of the history of medicine. The book describes how the flu started in Haskell County, Kansas, USA, and spread to the U.S. Army training camp Camp Funston, Kansas, USA, and around the world through troop movements during World War I.

Background Information

The 1918 influenza pandemic has been declared, according to Barry's text, as the 'deadliest plague in history'. The extensiveness of this declaration can be supported through the following statements: "the greatest medical holocaust in history" and "the pandemic ranks with the plague of Justinian and the Black Death as one of the three most destructive human epidemics". Although the origin site for the pandemic has been widely debated, Barry follows the research findings of epidemiologist Edwin Oakes Jordan to claim that the disease originated from Haskell County, Kansas and was spread to army camps, across the US and then to Europe.

The influenza strain of the 1918 pandemic infected approximately 500 million people and during the First World War, this viral infection reported more deaths than military engagement. Moreover, the disease caused the fatalities of more than 50 million people worldwide. During the development of this disease, the influenza strain, colloquially, became known as the ‘Spanish flu’ due to the fact that Spain was the first country to publicly report on the disease.

Additionally, the geographical origins of the 1918 influenza virus is a familiar point of contention due to the various evidence-based claims.  Although the origin site for the pandemic has been widely debated, Barry follows the research findings of epidemiologist Edwin Oakes Jordan to claim that the disease originated from Haskell County, Kansas and was spread to army camps, across the US and then to Europe.  Nevertheless, the general consensus is more indistinct than Barry’s claim; the acknowledgement being that the disease originated from the Midwest of the United States of America.

Content

Barry’s book reviews details of the events preceding, during and following the 1918 influenza pandemic.

Part 1 of the text includes accounts of various scientists and intellectuals throughout history, and describes their theories, and methodologies.  He identifies and critiques the progression of science throughout history and the evolution of medicine to be performed as a science-based occupation.

Part 2 of the text identifies Haskell County, Kansas to be the origin site of the influenza strain based on epidemiological evidence derived from a local doctor to the site, Loring Miner and details the distribution across the US through army camps.

Part 3 of the text examines the potential reasonings the US joined the First World War and their preparatory process, including creating a National Research Council that incorporated scientifically qualified men identified in the first part of the text to prevent this influenza spread.  

Part 4, 5 and 6 of the text discusses the casualties due to the pandemic specifically in the second half of 1918, as well as comparing the first and second wave statistics.  These parts include different forms of evidence that portray accounts of the public’s fear and uncertainty of the pandemic and the contributing influences to these emotions, specifically the misinformation or lack of information distributed by the media during this time period.

Part 7 of the text details the accounts of scientists and their attempts to generate an effective vaccine to prevent the spread of the influenza strain. 

Part 8 and 9 describes the conclusion of the pandemic, specifically detailing the scientific realisations, viral mutations and emotional aftermath caused by the pandemic. 

Finally, the last part of the text follows scientist Oswald Avery’s continual researching of the influenza subsequent to the pandemic, and details his successful findings.

Reviews

Stephen C. Schoenbaum comments on John Barry’s non-fiction text through his 2004 review by critically stating that the text “includes lots of interesting tidbits, some relevant, some not, some accurate, and some not”.  Furthermore, Schoenbaum identifies ‘telling stories’ as a strong component of the text, however its historical overview should not be considered ‘definitive’.  Nevertheless, Barry’s text is declared as a “rewarding experience” with other scholarly authors not presenting the “same combination of interests as Mr Barry” .

Andrew Noymer recognises the broad audience regarding accessibility of Barry’s non-fiction text and its focus on specific historical, and medical matters.  This is evident through his statement, “… the book is written for a general audience as well as for academic experts”.  Moreover, Noymer indicates the questionable reliability of Barry’s anecdotes as “not all anecdotes… [were] documented by sources in the endnotes”.  Hence, suggesting there to be an issue when evaluating the book as “a piece of historical research”

Joseph Topinka, Daniel Molnar, Brandon Gardner and Rosemary Wosky extensively evaluate the quality of John Barry’s text The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History in their 2015 review.  The review recognises the historical framework Barry provides for understanding the social environment, as well as the political issues of the influenza pandemic.  The review declares “Barry’s description of the spreading of the influenza and the reaction to it by the local and national governments all provide lessons from which we can learn”.  Hence, Topinka et al. indicate their perspective of the didactic nature of the text, specifically regarding decision-making or lack thereof, as well as advocation for public education and alteration of legal frameworks under public health law.  They agree with Barry’s discussion of the historical spread of this disease, specifically that "we must learn from the influenza pandemic of 1918”.

A 2004 Journal of Clinical Investigation review said that the book was "well conceived, well researched, and extremely well written" targeting a broad audience-physicians, scientists, medical students, and history buffs. Barry Gewen of The New York Times praised it saying "He is a good teacher, in part because he assumes that his readers don't know anything. He explains the technical stuff clearly, with nice, homey analogies".

Reaction

In the summer of 2005, then-President George W. Bush read the book while on vacation at his ranch in Crawford. His study would later set forth plans for the federal government to prepare for future pandemics in a November 2005 speech.

In 2020, the book experienced a surge in popularity as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

External links

• C-SPAN presentation by Barry on The Great Influenza, 17 February 2004
• C-SPAN presentation by Barry on The Great Influenza, 16 November 2004
• C-SPAN presentation by Barry on past influenza outbreaks, 30 April 2009