The Great Influenza

The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History

By: John M. Barry

Narrated by: Scott Brick

In the winter of 1918, 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, then exploded, killing as many as 100 million people worldwide. It killed more people in 24 weeks than AIDS has killed in 24 years, more in a year than the Black Death killed in a century. But this was not the Middle Ages, and 1918 marked the first collision between modern science and epidemic disease.

Magisterial in its breadth of perspective and depth of research, The Great Influenza weaves together multiple narratives, with characters ranging from William Welch, founder of the Johns Hopkins Medical School, to John D. Rockefeller and Woodrow Wilson. Ultimately a tale of triumph amid tragedy, this crisis provides us with a precise and sobering model as we confront the epidemics looming on our own horizon.

©2004, 2005 John M. Barry (P)2006 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Monumental...powerfully intelligent...not just a masterful narrative...but also an authoritative and disturbing morality tale." (Chicago Tribune)

"Easily our fullest, richest, most panoramic history of the subject." (The New York Times Book Review)

"Hypnotizing, horrifying, energetic, lucid prose...." (Providence Observer)

Better than a Stephen King novel - only true.

Very comprehensive book that attempts to trace not just when and where but why the flu happened. The off shoot of this is to describe the state of medicine in the world at that time (mainly in the U. S.). It then describes the event. This is the horror part. It finally describes the current state of medicine - another frightening section. It could happen again.

This book has stayed with me.

One scary read!

This is a great and frightening book. Before reading it I hardly knew anything about the 1918 flu pandemic, let alone that it took 50 to 100 million lives! The numbers just boggle the mind and the descriptions of the suffering and chaos chill the blood.
The Audiobook was well read and clear. My only complaint was that there was almost too much information at times. The first six hours dove into the history of medicine in general and the Johns Hopkins University in particular (which is fine if you have the spare time to listen to it). My advice, if you want to get into the real 'meat' of the influenza subject, is to bypass the first download section, and start listening from the beginning of the second.

Good listen

Very interesting history of the influenza epidemic, juxtaposed over the turmoil of WWI. I found the details about the flu virus, and why it is so difficult to vaccinate against, fascinating.

I usually don't like Scott Brick, but he was OK here.

Really didn't know what to expect..

I read the reviews, and was interested in the subject matter. I could listen to Scott Brick read a menu, so I didn't see how I could go wrong, I wasn't. John M. Barry told the story of the 1918 Influenza pandemic, in vivid detail, and of course Scott Brick was true to form in his narration. And, I will never miss a year getting my flu shot again.

Get your flu shot!

Sometimes it seemed like the book was repeating itself and dramatizing everything but all in all I appreciated learning about the rise of science and medicine through the great epidemic.

This is how history should be written

If you could sum up The Great Influenza in three words, what would they be?

meticulous, dramatic, gripping

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Great Influenza?

The total failure of government to deal with a growing disaster with anything other than denial

Which character – as performed by Scott Brick – was your favorite?

n/a

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

"But..it's only influenza..."

Any additional comments?

Scott Brick's performance is spot on for a non-fiction work: steady, clear and with touch of drama at the right moment in the right amount.

Good not great

A little grandiose and...absorbed?? Tried to make everything exciting and lacked an ebb and flow.

Wide-spread medical history meets the modern time

Unlike the Dark Ages where people were dropping like flies, this book illuminates that brief period in time around 1918 where influenza so potently held its grip on the world populace with many succumbing to the illness. Thought provoking if the same were to happen today, likely to be far worse since the world travels more than in 1918. Gave good perspective to what amounts to mankind's brittle existence over the biological level of inhabitance that we share this earth...

Timely and Chilling

Exceptionally well written and somewhat easier to digest in audible format, the book presents a clear history of the pandemic and speculates, based on facts and rational thinking, on the impact the influenza may have had on world history well beyond the outbreak itself. Particularly relevant given the COVID pandemic with clear parallels between policy making and success-or lack there of-of mitigation.

Deep Dive into the History of the 1918 Pandemic

There is a lot of information in this book. there are tangents that go quite in depth but if you're really interested in the topic interested in the history of medicine and the history of the study of infectious diseases you will be grateful for the tangents that go off in those areas and then come back to the main focus of the pandemic.