Fever of War: The Influenza Epidemic in the U.S. Army during World War I / Edition 1

by Carol R Byerly

Overview

The influenza epidemic of 1918 killed more people in one year than the Great War killed in four, sickening at least one quarter of the world's population. In Fever of War, Carol R. Byerly uncovers the startling impact of the 1918 influenza epidemic on the American army, its medical officers, and their profession, a story which has long been silenced. Through medical officers' memoirs and diaries, official reports, scientific articles, and other original sources, Byerly tells a grave tale about the limits of modern medicine and warfare.
The tragedy begins with overly confident medical officers who, armed with new knowledge and technologies of modern medicine, had an inflated sense of their ability to control disease. The conditions of trench warfare on the Western Front soon outflanked medical knowledge by creating an environment where the influenza virus could mutate to a lethal strain. This new flu virus soon left medical officers’ confidence in tatters as thousands of soldiers and trainees died under their care. They also were unable to convince the War Department to reduce the crowding of troops aboard ships and in barracks which were providing ideal environments for the epidemic to thrive. After the war, and given their helplessness to control influenza, many medical officers and military leaders began to downplay the epidemic as a significant event for the U. S. army, in effect erasing this dramatic story from the American historical memory.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780814799246
Publisher:	New York University Press
Publication date:	04/05/2005
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	251
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.65(d)

About the Author

Carol R. Byerly worked for the United States Congress and the American Red Cross, taught history at the University of Colorado, and was a research scholar of military medical history for the Office of the Surgeon General of the United States Army.

Table of Contents

List of Figures
List of Abbreviations
Acknowledgments
Prologue: Eddie
Introduction
1 Medical Heroes: Medical Officers’ Confidence as They Prepare for War
2 Building a Healthy Army: Government Control and Accountability
3 Worst-Case Scenario: The Influenza Epidemic of 1918 in the Camps
4 Fighting Germs and Germans: Influenza in the American Expeditionary Forces
5 Postmortem: The Trauma of Failure, 1918–1919
6 “Except for the Flu . . .”: Writing the History of the Epidemic
Conclusion: Memory and the Politics of Disease and War
Notes
Select Bibliography
Index
About the Author

Editorial Reviews

"Fever of War adds an important dimension to knowled of the influenza pandemic of 1918-1919."

David Killingray

"It is a must read for anyone interested in military or health care history."

Nursing History Review

“Fever of War adds an important dimension to knowled of the influenza pandemic of 1918-1919.”
-David Killingray,Goldsmiths College, University of London

From the Publisher

"Fever of War is an outstanding addition to the literature on U.S. participation in World War I . . . based on exhaustive research and thorough engagement with the published scholarship in medical, military, and social history. An important book whose fluently written exposition is well balanced between rigorous analysis and sensitive attention to the human beings--doctors and victims alike--who worked and suffered through the pandemic."
—author of America's Great War: The American Experience in World War I

Robert H. Zieger

"Fever of War is handsome, readable, and extensively researched...It is a well-priced and wonderful addition to the historical literature and highly recommended to anyone with an interest in the influenza pandemic of 1918-1919."
—MD, The Journal of the American Medical Association

Burke A. Cunha

"Byerly’s prose is exceptionally clear and elegant."

Choice

"Fever of War makes a powerful argument. One cannot walk away from the book without grasping the significant, tragic impact of influenza on U.S. troops in WWI, and how difficult that impact was for the nation's citizens to bear."

Boulder Daily Camera

"Byerly’s book provides a wealth of fascinating detail. Everyone with an interest in the 1918-19 pandemic will profit from reading it."

Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences