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Reviews tagging 'War'
The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History by John M. Barry
2 reviews
rynaissanceenby's review
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
1.5
This book had a lot of really great information about the history of medicine in addition to being a thorough summary of the events of the 1918 epidemic. It was particularly interesting to read it in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and see what parallels there were, but also how far we have come. That being said, I feel this book had a lot of issues that made it less enjoyable and comprehensible.
First of all, the story jumps around a lot. It's constantly talking about different places and different points in time within the pandemic. There's no coherent narrative thread. There are dates given for each event, but it's impossible to keep track of everything. It also throws numbers around a lot in ways that don't necessarily paint a picture for the reader of what they mean. They're just facts and figures without enough context to be meaningful. There are plenty of points in the book that are much more qualitative though, and I think those are the parts that truly confer an understanding of the situation. I wish the author had used a lot more of that and a lot less reciting numbers.
Next, the writing seemed to build a lot of suspense that never really went anywhere. It felt like every chapter was ending with a "duh, duh, duh" of some big dooming event to come in the next chapter, but that's not how pandemics work really. They just sort of drag along spreading further and further and killing even more people. There are peaks and waves, but there isn't any singular big explosion it all leads up to. And this unresolved tension leaves the reader feeling really dissatisfied.
Additionally, I don't like the way science is characterized in this book. It's romanticized. Scientists are praised for shutting themselves away in their lab for who knows how long. For neglecting their families in favor of their work. Dedication is important, but having a full and varied life that doesn't revolve around your job is not something to be seen as wasteful. It also explicitly praises giant leaps forward and belittles all the small discoveries along the way. Sure sometimes we see a rapid revelation in monumental ways, but the vast majority of science comes from those small triumphs. The gradual accumulation of knowledge and understanding until a picture starts to take shape. Imbedded in this celebration of sudden, large progress are hero narratives. But this isn't how science works. There's never just a single person toiling away in a lab. There's a reason that basically no published papers have one single author. Science doesn't happen in a vacuum. The book does an alright job of talking about how various scientists would tell each other about what they've been working on, but it fails to remember the so-called "little people." The lab assistants and scientists who aren't famous enough to be discussed by name.
Finally, this book struck me as pretty sexist. Two specific examples of the dismissive way it talks about women stood out to me. First of all, in the last section of the book, it goes on for a few pages about Watson and Crick. However, Rosalind Franklin is not mentioned a single time. The other example comes in the middle of the book when the author finally does give a little bit of time talking about the huge ways in which women were a fundamental part of fighting the pandemic. But when it goes to name some of the most politically relevant women, it refers to them as "Mrs. [husband's firstname][husband's lastname]." It tells us how important and influential these women are, and then can't even be bothered to tell us their names. Their only importance is who their husband is.
Overall, this book contains some solid information, but the writing style really leaves something to be desired.
First of all, the story jumps around a lot. It's constantly talking about different places and different points in time within the pandemic. There's no coherent narrative thread. There are dates given for each event, but it's impossible to keep track of everything. It also throws numbers around a lot in ways that don't necessarily paint a picture for the reader of what they mean. They're just facts and figures without enough context to be meaningful. There are plenty of points in the book that are much more qualitative though, and I think those are the parts that truly confer an understanding of the situation. I wish the author had used a lot more of that and a lot less reciting numbers.
Next, the writing seemed to build a lot of suspense that never really went anywhere. It felt like every chapter was ending with a "duh, duh, duh" of some big dooming event to come in the next chapter, but that's not how pandemics work really. They just sort of drag along spreading further and further and killing even more people. There are peaks and waves, but there isn't any singular big explosion it all leads up to. And this unresolved tension leaves the reader feeling really dissatisfied.
Additionally, I don't like the way science is characterized in this book. It's romanticized. Scientists are praised for shutting themselves away in their lab for who knows how long. For neglecting their families in favor of their work. Dedication is important, but having a full and varied life that doesn't revolve around your job is not something to be seen as wasteful. It also explicitly praises giant leaps forward and belittles all the small discoveries along the way. Sure sometimes we see a rapid revelation in monumental ways, but the vast majority of science comes from those small triumphs. The gradual accumulation of knowledge and understanding until a picture starts to take shape. Imbedded in this celebration of sudden, large progress are hero narratives. But this isn't how science works. There's never just a single person toiling away in a lab. There's a reason that basically no published papers have one single author. Science doesn't happen in a vacuum. The book does an alright job of talking about how various scientists would tell each other about what they've been working on, but it fails to remember the so-called "little people." The lab assistants and scientists who aren't famous enough to be discussed by name.
Finally, this book struck me as pretty sexist. Two specific examples of the dismissive way it talks about women stood out to me. First of all, in the last section of the book, it goes on for a few pages about Watson and Crick. However, Rosalind Franklin is not mentioned a single time. The other example comes in the middle of the book when the author finally does give a little bit of time talking about the huge ways in which women were a fundamental part of fighting the pandemic. But when it goes to name some of the most politically relevant women, it refers to them as "Mrs. [husband's firstname][husband's lastname]." It tells us how important and influential these women are, and then can't even be bothered to tell us their names. Their only importance is who their husband is.
Overall, this book contains some solid information, but the writing style really leaves something to be desired.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Terminal illness, Medical content, Death, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death
Minor: War
mscalls's review
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Suicide, Vomit, and War
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