Pandemic 1918

Eyewitness Accounts from the Greatest Medical Holocaust in Modern History

By: Catharine Arnold

Narrated by: Peter Wickham

Before AIDS or coronavirus, there was the Spanish flu - Catharine Arnold's gripping narrative, Pandemic 1918, marks the 100th anniversary of an epidemic that altered world history.

In January 1918, as World War I raged on, a new and terrifying virus began to spread across the globe. In three successive waves, from 1918 to 1919, influenza killed more than 50 million people. German soldiers termed it Blitzkatarrh, British soldiers referred to it as Flanders Grippe, but worldwide, the pandemic gained the notorious title of “Spanish flu”. Nowhere on earth escaped: the United States recorded 550,000 deaths (five times its total military fatalities in the war) while European deaths totaled more than two million.

Amid the war, some governments suppressed news of the outbreak. Even as entire battalions were decimated, with both the Allies and the Germans suffering massive casualties, the details of many servicemen’s deaths were hidden to protect public morale. Meanwhile, civilian families were being struck down in their homes. The city of Philadelphia ran out of gravediggers and coffins, and mass burial trenches had to be excavated with steam shovels. Spanish flu conjured up the specter of the Black Death of 1348 and the great plague of 1665, while the medical profession, shattered after five terrible years of conflict, lacked the resources to contain and defeat this new enemy.

Through primary and archival sources, historian Catharine Arnold gives listeners the first truly global account of the terrible epidemic.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Press

©2018 Catharine Arnold (P)2020 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

“[Catharine Arnold] is good at looking at civilians as well as troops and their nurses and doctors and at teasing out the human side of the catastrophe...powerful stories of ordinary people.” (Wall Street Journal)

"Historian Arnold presents a collection of essays that colorfully illustrate the everyday impact of the disease...an enjoyable read." (Library Journal, starred review)

"This well-researched and often overwhelming history serves as a stark warning of the threat of pandemic flu." (Publishers Weekly, starred review)

Strangest Narrator

I have the hard copy of this book but enjoy listening to books so I don't keep falling asleep while actually reading. The narrator used the British military rank of Left Tenet (I have no idea if thats proper spelling, apologies) during parts in the book when the author wrote about American soldiers specifically Lieutenants. Its pronounced Lou-tenet or you would just call them LT. I'm a veteran and it drove me crazy listening when they were on a navy ship or army base in the states and he would say Left-Tenet I got confused and had to "rewind" to make sure we were still on the topic of what was happening in America or to U.S troops. It was jarring to me. When I got to an easy part in the book I was able to find out it was really Lieutenant he was messing up. I wonder if anyone else who knows U.S.Army rank too got confused over it as well? Not the narrator I would have chosen for a decent and informative book like this. I want to listen again but it was kind of irritating when the narrator didn't read the exact words in the book. I wonder if the author knows?

Immersive description of the “human impact”

No issues with narration.

Book by British author read by a British narrator using British pronunciations. Not an obstacle to listening. But, rather exactly what one would expect.

The story of the human impact of the “Spanish Lady” worldwide. Full sensory immersion of the reader in the experience as the pandemic arrived at disparate locales around the globe.

Great book not so great narrator.

Catharine Arnold is one of my favourite history writers. Her works are well researched and concisely written. Her book on the 1918 Spanish Flu is a masterpiece of medical history. I only wish I had bought the physical book rather than the audio version. While the narrator was pleasing enough, I found him somewhat condescending. Every quote from a female was read with a raised almost juvenile inflection. While this may not have been intentional it was none the less annoying. I highly recommend the book as it gives some great insight and comparison to COVID 19, however I'd suggest buying the physical book rather than this audible version.

sssssssss

The recording is one of the worst for sibilance (the hard "s" sound that mics tend to amplify) I've ever heard on audible. With the many types of filters and even post production processing to "de-ess" such things, it gives the entire performance a decidedly amateur tone. The book itself was not what I had expected. I really wanted more of the story about the research being done today, and the bad theories about the causes then. What is on offer is a litany of first hand accounts, no matter how fleeting or disjointed, trying to propel the listener into the pandemic, and in the case of this listener, failing.