80 pages • 2 hours read
The Great Influenza
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Summary and Study Guide
Overview
The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History is a 2004 nonfiction work by American historian John M. Barry. It traces the history of the worst pandemic in world history, the influenza pandemic of 1918 and 1919. Barry approaches the subject with a broad audience in mind, placing the story of the flu inside the broader story of medical and scientific history. While focusing on the men who fought the pandemic, Barry also contextualizes the pandemic within American history and, especially, the story of World War I, the event that principally exacerbated the spread of influenza. The book was a New York Times best-seller and has been republished several times. This guide makes use of the 2018 edition published to coincide with the pandemic’s centennial. It includes a new Afterword by the author.
Barry develops the history of the pandemic by first focusing on the lives of the men who would combat it. He traces the history of medicine through the 1800s and argues that American medical knowledge severely lagged behind that of Europe until Johns Hopkins University was founded. In Part 1 Barry is especially interested in the work of Unlock all 80 pages of this Study Guide Plus, gain access to 8,900+ more expert-written Study Guides. Including features:
