Pale rider : the Spanish Flu of 1918 and how it changed the world

Book 2018

"The Spanish flu of 1918-1920 was one of the greatest human disasters of all time. It infected a third of the people on Earth--from the poorest immigrants of New York City to the king of Spain, Franz Kafka, Mahatma Gandhi and Woodrow Wilson. But despite a death toll of between 50 and 100 million people, it exists in our memory as an afterthought to World War I. In this gripping narrative history, Laura Spinney traces the overlooked pandemic to re...

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Explore Topics & Themes:

Communicable diseases History

Epidemiology History

Influenza History 20th century

Influenza Epidemic, 1918-1919

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ISBN:

9781910702376
9781784702403
9781610397674
1784702404
1610397673

Description:

332 pages : illustrations, map ; 20 cm

Notes:

"First published in hardback by Jonathan Cape in 2017"--Title page verso
Includes bibliographical resources (pages 298-317) and index

Contents:

Introduction: The elephant in the room
part 1. The unwalled city: Coughs and sneezes
The monads of Leibniz
part 2. Anatomy of a pandemic
Ripples on a pond
Like a thief in the night
part 3. Manhu, or What is it?
Disease eleven
The doctors' dilemma
The wrath of God
part 4. The survival instinct
Chalking doors with crosses
The placebo effect ; Good Samaritans
part 5. Post mortem
The hunt for patient zero
Counting the dead
part 6. Science redeemed
Aenigmoplasma influenzae
Beware the barnyard
The human factor
part 7. The post-flu world
The green shoots of recovery
Alternate histories
Anti-science, science
Healthcare for all
War and peace ; Melancholy muse
part 8. Roscoe's legacy
Afterword: On memory

Control Number:

2307071

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