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missidab's review
5.0
The story of the Spanish flu expertly told from contrasting perspectives, which kept me captivated throughout. It gave me tons of new information and tiny tidbits to treasure.
ray_oflight's review against another edition
4.0
interesting exploration of the pandemic, with a focus on parts of the world other than the US & western Europe.
1969sl's review
4.0
Looks like a perfectly timed publication but look again: the book was published in 2017.
That means Laura Spinney wrote it as a interesting scientific research about Spanish flu and added several possibilities how the future epidemics might develop - all of this, before Covid swept across the planet and forced us to adapt to different times. Naturally, many of us looked up to all the informations about Spanish Flu, to figure out how the epidemics work, how long do they last, what makes them disappear, etc - I have still not figured out exactly how it just vanished but this book makes it somehow clearer that the virus eventually weakened. (It is still alive and kept in a high-security containment facility in Atlanta, Georgia.)
In her wildest dreams Spinney could not imagine that the whole world would look up to her book very soon after its publishing - she does approach Spanish flu epidemics from many different angles and points at so many similarities to our current situation that (curiously) it felt comforting to know that the world has already went trough this situation and survived. Personally I found fascinating how all of this comes out as a sort of déjà vu - a hundred years ago we have been there and behaved more or the less exactly the same. First of all, there was a finger pointing - "In Senegal it was the Brazilian flu and in Brazil the German flu, while the Danes thought it ‘came from the south’. The Poles called it the Bolshevik disease, the Persians blamed the British, and the Japanese blamed their wrestlers: after it first broke out at a sumo tournament, they dubbed it ‘sumo flu’." Than there was a matter of competing interests of collective - historian Alfred Crosby, who told the story of the flu in America, argued that democracy was unhelpful in a pandemic. The demands of national security, a thriving economy and public health are rarely aligned, and elected representatives defending the first two undermine the third, simply by doing their job. The most heated discussions of all, however, revolved around vaccination - in those long gone days before the internet, gossip got mixed up with ignorance, prejudice, religion and guesswork, just as today. I don't really get it why Spinney is so determined to find the start of the epidemic because it doesn't really matter - I might be wrong but once it spread, the virus was unleashed and that is all that matter - was it Asia, Canada or battlefields of WW1 in Europe, what difference does it make?
Most scientists now agree that the event that triggered it–the spillover of the pandemic strain from birds to humans–would have happened whether or not the world had been at war, but that the war contributed to its exceptional virulence, while at the same time helping to spread the virus around the world. Interesting message from the book is that viruses can and do, jump from the animals to humans without actually harming animals - once the human immune system has been mobilised against the new virus, it enters a more stable equilibrium with its host. The pandemic passes, but the virus continues to circulate in a benign, seasonal form, provoking occasional outbreaks as it evolves through drift. It happens every few centuries and it will happen again - long before Spanish flu there was a "febris Italica" and there were two further flu pandemics in the twentieth century: the 1957 ‘Asian’ flu, which claimed 2 million lives, and the 1968 Hong Kong flu, which killed perhaps twice that. I got a little tired towards the end but in general the book kept my attention very well and I would recommend it to everybody who is curious how our situation might resolve.
That means Laura Spinney wrote it as a interesting scientific research about Spanish flu and added several possibilities how the future epidemics might develop - all of this, before Covid swept across the planet and forced us to adapt to different times. Naturally, many of us looked up to all the informations about Spanish Flu, to figure out how the epidemics work, how long do they last, what makes them disappear, etc - I have still not figured out exactly how it just vanished but this book makes it somehow clearer that the virus eventually weakened. (It is still alive and kept in a high-security containment facility in Atlanta, Georgia.)
In her wildest dreams Spinney could not imagine that the whole world would look up to her book very soon after its publishing - she does approach Spanish flu epidemics from many different angles and points at so many similarities to our current situation that (curiously) it felt comforting to know that the world has already went trough this situation and survived. Personally I found fascinating how all of this comes out as a sort of déjà vu - a hundred years ago we have been there and behaved more or the less exactly the same. First of all, there was a finger pointing - "In Senegal it was the Brazilian flu and in Brazil the German flu, while the Danes thought it ‘came from the south’. The Poles called it the Bolshevik disease, the Persians blamed the British, and the Japanese blamed their wrestlers: after it first broke out at a sumo tournament, they dubbed it ‘sumo flu’." Than there was a matter of competing interests of collective - historian Alfred Crosby, who told the story of the flu in America, argued that democracy was unhelpful in a pandemic. The demands of national security, a thriving economy and public health are rarely aligned, and elected representatives defending the first two undermine the third, simply by doing their job. The most heated discussions of all, however, revolved around vaccination - in those long gone days before the internet, gossip got mixed up with ignorance, prejudice, religion and guesswork, just as today. I don't really get it why Spinney is so determined to find the start of the epidemic because it doesn't really matter - I might be wrong but once it spread, the virus was unleashed and that is all that matter - was it Asia, Canada or battlefields of WW1 in Europe, what difference does it make?
Most scientists now agree that the event that triggered it–the spillover of the pandemic strain from birds to humans–would have happened whether or not the world had been at war, but that the war contributed to its exceptional virulence, while at the same time helping to spread the virus around the world. Interesting message from the book is that viruses can and do, jump from the animals to humans without actually harming animals - once the human immune system has been mobilised against the new virus, it enters a more stable equilibrium with its host. The pandemic passes, but the virus continues to circulate in a benign, seasonal form, provoking occasional outbreaks as it evolves through drift. It happens every few centuries and it will happen again - long before Spanish flu there was a "febris Italica" and there were two further flu pandemics in the twentieth century: the 1957 ‘Asian’ flu, which claimed 2 million lives, and the 1968 Hong Kong flu, which killed perhaps twice that. I got a little tired towards the end but in general the book kept my attention very well and I would recommend it to everybody who is curious how our situation might resolve.
charles__'s review against another edition
3.0
Wide ranging exploration of the devastating, nearly-forgotten H1N1 flu pandemic that broke out at the end of WWI.
This was an advanced/intermediate-level work on the 1918 flu pandemic. Having advanced education and a general knowledge of early 20th Century history, particularly the history of the aftermath of World War I would be needed to really leverage its contents.
I have a keen interest in epidemiology. In pursuing that interest I’ve read several books on the mis-named Spanish flu of 1918. Spinney’s book is a short, wide ranging survey of the disaster. It covers the science, history and the effect of that plague on politics, religion, population and society. It takes a global view, which is uncommon. To the extent to which I’m familiar, all of the covered points and examples use the current best academic research. At points I was disappointed by the depth of the discussions. For example, I wished for a longer more detailed analysis of the effect of the pandemic on the Russian Civil War (another interest of mine). However, in retrospect I generally came to appreciate the breadth of the work. It exposed historical and geo-political relationships of the pandemic which I did not suspect. However, there were sections that were either of little interest to me, or I thought were a reach. For example, the section devoted to long-term effects of the pandemic on global mental illnesses and art and literature felt squishy in comparison to previous historical and technical sections.
My book was a modest 350-pages. This did not feel like a lot considering the ground being covered. It had an original UK copyright of 2017. Generally, reading went quickly.
Laura Spinney is a British science journalist and writer of both fiction and non-fiction books.
Spinney’s writing is very good. Her experience as a scientific journalist shows through. In addition, her original publisher Jonathan Cape (Penguin) is renowned for the prowess of their editors and proofreaders. The prose is clear, concise and I could find no errors. The footnotes were particularly well done, although I would have liked a separate bibliography. The writing had a very British aspect to it. In addition, a sophisticated vocabulary, including medical and biological technical terms was used. Some readers may have difficulty with some sections.
The book made good use of illustrations and maps. The included pictures were excellent. They were artistic. The maps were more akin to info-graphics. They were professionally done.
The book was broken-up into eight (8) sections and a separate important Afterward. Each of the sections addressed an aspect of the pandemic. Sections were divided into between two (2) and six (6) chapters. Chapters included at least one detailed illustrative anecdote. A global perspective was taken to the pandemic. In addition, to the pandemic's history, present and future developments are addressed. Typically, my readings on it were restricted to the: historical effect on the English-speaking world, flu epidemiology, and flu virology (H1N1 vs. H5N1 flus). If I have a subjective objection to the book, it was the allocation of scarce pages to chapters. For example, Part Seven: The Post-Flu World addresses the attributable effects of the flu for up to 10-years after the pandemic. This section shares chapters on a speculation of how the Treaty of Versailles was affected by flu-suffering delegations and on the post-epidemic appearance of previously unobserved or rare mental illnesses. The former I found very interesting, while I took no interest in the later. I also thought the pandemic’s effect on Dashiell Hammett’s creation of the hard-boiled detective genre of literature to be quite speculative. However, the historical and technical chapters were very good. Some were brilliant. The present day and future efforts by the WHO to prevent or mitigate future flu pandemics was current.
The book assumes a historical background on the period and some knowledge of biology. It is not an introductory text. I've already read several books on the Spanish Flu. It is an asset for folks looking to increase their breadth of knowledge on the subject. For example, I knew quite a bit about effects of the pandemic on the Anglo-west. The book added to my understanding of it on: India, parts of Asia, South America and Africa. However, I was skeptical about some of the non-historical and biological sections. In summary, I found it a worthy but not easy read for those interested in broadening their understanding of the 1918 Flu Pandemic and potential flu epidemics.
Readers interested in an introduction to the Spanish flu pandemic might try America's Forgotten Pandemic: The Influenza of 1918. Previously, this was the best book I’d read on the subject.
This was an advanced/intermediate-level work on the 1918 flu pandemic. Having advanced education and a general knowledge of early 20th Century history, particularly the history of the aftermath of World War I would be needed to really leverage its contents.
I have a keen interest in epidemiology. In pursuing that interest I’ve read several books on the mis-named Spanish flu of 1918. Spinney’s book is a short, wide ranging survey of the disaster. It covers the science, history and the effect of that plague on politics, religion, population and society. It takes a global view, which is uncommon. To the extent to which I’m familiar, all of the covered points and examples use the current best academic research. At points I was disappointed by the depth of the discussions. For example, I wished for a longer more detailed analysis of the effect of the pandemic on the Russian Civil War (another interest of mine). However, in retrospect I generally came to appreciate the breadth of the work. It exposed historical and geo-political relationships of the pandemic which I did not suspect. However, there were sections that were either of little interest to me, or I thought were a reach. For example, the section devoted to long-term effects of the pandemic on global mental illnesses and art and literature felt squishy in comparison to previous historical and technical sections.
My book was a modest 350-pages. This did not feel like a lot considering the ground being covered. It had an original UK copyright of 2017. Generally, reading went quickly.
Laura Spinney is a British science journalist and writer of both fiction and non-fiction books.
Spinney’s writing is very good. Her experience as a scientific journalist shows through. In addition, her original publisher Jonathan Cape (Penguin) is renowned for the prowess of their editors and proofreaders. The prose is clear, concise and I could find no errors. The footnotes were particularly well done, although I would have liked a separate bibliography. The writing had a very British aspect to it. In addition, a sophisticated vocabulary, including medical and biological technical terms was used. Some readers may have difficulty with some sections.
The book made good use of illustrations and maps. The included pictures were excellent. They were artistic. The maps were more akin to info-graphics. They were professionally done.
The book was broken-up into eight (8) sections and a separate important Afterward. Each of the sections addressed an aspect of the pandemic. Sections were divided into between two (2) and six (6) chapters. Chapters included at least one detailed illustrative anecdote. A global perspective was taken to the pandemic. In addition, to the pandemic's history, present and future developments are addressed. Typically, my readings on it were restricted to the: historical effect on the English-speaking world, flu epidemiology, and flu virology (H1N1 vs. H5N1 flus). If I have a subjective objection to the book, it was the allocation of scarce pages to chapters. For example, Part Seven: The Post-Flu World addresses the attributable effects of the flu for up to 10-years after the pandemic. This section shares chapters on a speculation of how the Treaty of Versailles was affected by flu-suffering delegations and on the post-epidemic appearance of previously unobserved or rare mental illnesses. The former I found very interesting, while I took no interest in the later. I also thought the pandemic’s effect on Dashiell Hammett’s creation of the hard-boiled detective genre of literature to be quite speculative. However, the historical and technical chapters were very good. Some were brilliant. The present day and future efforts by the WHO to prevent or mitigate future flu pandemics was current.
The book assumes a historical background on the period and some knowledge of biology. It is not an introductory text. I've already read several books on the Spanish Flu. It is an asset for folks looking to increase their breadth of knowledge on the subject. For example, I knew quite a bit about effects of the pandemic on the Anglo-west. The book added to my understanding of it on: India, parts of Asia, South America and Africa. However, I was skeptical about some of the non-historical and biological sections. In summary, I found it a worthy but not easy read for those interested in broadening their understanding of the 1918 Flu Pandemic and potential flu epidemics.
Readers interested in an introduction to the Spanish flu pandemic might try America's Forgotten Pandemic: The Influenza of 1918. Previously, this was the best book I’d read on the subject.
kmbarnes79's review against another edition
5.0
I read this in 2019. It was interesting to see COVID hit and how humanity really is the same over and over again. Fascinating book about the Spanish Flu and the influenza virus in general. If you wonder about why things are the way they are in this new pandemic, this is a good hint.
explorastorynz's review against another edition
4.0
So much ground covered. I can't do this justice in a review.
Many jaw dropping moments - I must have looked a right fool out for my walks while listening to this, completely gobsmacked.
This review is probably a good one to read for more thoughts that correlate with mine: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2025332885
And I agree with some others, this would have been a better book without some of the end sections, wandering off into supposition and opinion. Or maybe if those had been deeply edited?
Many jaw dropping moments - I must have looked a right fool out for my walks while listening to this, completely gobsmacked.
This review is probably a good one to read for more thoughts that correlate with mine: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2025332885
And I agree with some others, this would have been a better book without some of the end sections, wandering off into supposition and opinion. Or maybe if those had been deeply edited?