The Great Influenza: The True Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History (Young Readers Edition)

by John M. Barry

Overview

The strongest weapon against pandemic is the truth. Read why in the definitive account of the 1918 Influenza Epidemic, adapted for young readers from the #1 New York Times bestseller.

At the height of World War I, history’s most lethal influenza virus erupted in an army camp in Kansas, moved east with American troops, and then exploded worldwide, killing as many as 100 million people. It killed more in twenty-four months than AIDS killed in twenty-four years, more in a year than the Black Death killed in a century. It killed many more people than COVID-19, especially those who were young and otherwise healthy.

This book, adapted from the #1 New York Times bestseller first published in 2004, shows young readers how this global tragedy came to pass; how science, war, and public policy collided; and how we might be able to prevent it from happening again. Impeccably researched and engrossingly told, The Great Influenza provides young readers with historical and scientific context for epidemics that remains all too relevant today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780593404706
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	04/16/2024
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	608,256
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

John M. Barry is the author of four previous books: Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed Amer­ica; Power Plays: Politics, Football, and Other Blood Sports; The Transformed Cell: Unlocking the Mysteries of Cancer (cowritten with Steven A. Rosenberg); and The Ambition and the Power: A True Story of Washington. He lives in New Orleans and Wash­ington, DC.

Editorial Reviews

06/01/2024

Gr 5 Up—Twenty years after his 2004 bestseller and only a few years after the world's most recent pandemic, Barry has published a young readers edition of his original text. In five parts, he traces the development of public health and epidemiological research in the U.S., the role of the military and government in health policy as well as the failures of politics, propaganda, and economics that fanned the flames of the 1918 influenza pandemic. Barry delves into the state of American medical schools and the roles and backgrounds of several individuals involved in public health, immunology, and the pandemic itself. More intriguing are instances of a total lack of federal leadership, response or even acknowledgement of the outbreak, and how private organizations, such as Main Line Philadelphia families and the Red Cross answered the call that the government and the press would not. This is a scientific history leaning heavily on scientific theory, not a narrative history of the pandemic. Towards the end of the book, Barry describes a condition suffered by survivors of influenza that impacted them physically and mentally. Crucially, this may have included President Wilson at the Paris peace talks, perhaps forever affecting their outcome and contributing to the rise of Nazi Germany. The afterword concentrates on scientific, cultural, and governmental similarities and differences between influenza and COVID-19, and proves illustrative and informative. Back matter includes a timeline, key figures, endnotes, and bibliography. The lack of more visual resources is a drawback in terms of using the book for research purposes; readers may wish for maps and graphs to better understand the scale of the disaster. VERDICT For a more encapsulated history with primary sources and first-person accounts, steer interested readers towards More Deadly Than War: The Hidden History of the Spanish Flu and the First World War by Kenneth C. Davis. For upper-level students, Barry's longer original title, despite its length, will prove more accessible and authoritative.—Lee De Groft

School Library Journal

2024-01-19
An updated young readers’ adaptation of the 2004 adult bestseller by the same name.

This holistic approach to the influenza pandemic that ravaged the planet just over a century ago starts with the development of modern medical institutions in the U.S., documenting the fight for academic rigor and the effort it took for clinicians to implement the scientific method. These scientists met their crucible when a scary new flu mutation arose among World War I soldiers. The volume does a remarkable job of concisely explaining the biology at play (both in the disease and the scientists’ attempts at solving the crisis), the geopolitics of the time, and the role of wartime propaganda in spreading misinformation (such as how the “Spanish flu” misnomer came to be). Throughout, SARS-CoV-2 is used as a relatable touchpoint for readers familiar with the Covid-19 pandemic through the use of hard facts, such as the numbers of people infected and killed and the impact of dangerous mutant swarms of RNA viruses. The engaging text highlights women’s roles in various capacities, though only a few are mentioned by name; the revolutionary scientists were “an exclusive group that included very few women.” The meticulously researched book also mentions factors—both socioeconomic (crowded living spaces) and biological (a population’s previous exposure to influenza)—that resulted in the virus hitting some ethnic groups harder than others.

A strong, multifaceted narrative sure to create enthusiasts of science and geopolitics. (key figures, timeline, glossary, source notes, selected bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 11-15)

Kirkus Reviews