A review by carrie562
Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus That Caused It by Gina Kolata

3.0

I read this right after I read John Barry's The Great Influenza. They are very different books and I'm glad I read both. Barry's book is densely packed with information while this one is a bit lighter. But in terms of the subject matter, she spends a fair amount of time on various digressions, such as the 1976 flu vaccination effort and the discovery of the H5N1 avian flu. Barry's book comprehensively covers the period before and during the 1918 pandemic - a little too comprehensively, perhaps - while Gina Kolata's book does not really begin until 1950ish when the hunt for the virus takes off. Her style as always is easy to read and conversational, but sometimes I suspect she sacrifices accuracy for the sake of a simpler, more entertaining narrative. A good read, but I'm not going around recommending it.