The scale and numbers associated with the 1918 pandemic always stop me in my tracks. From January 1918 – December 1920, with the worst month in October of 1918, the virus infected abut 27% of the world’s population (500 million people) and killed approximately 50 to 100 million people. It killed more people in a year than the Black Death in the Middle Ages killed in 100 years; it killed more people in 24 weeks than AIDS killed in 24 years.

Although this book was published in 2006, it seems to be one of the most comprehensive overviews of this topic, and I wanted to listen to this in the context of all the COVID-19 and Coronavirus news. I would have preferred more of a global survey approach to the pandemic, as Barry tends to focus almost exclusively on the American experience, but this was one of the most highly rated audiobooks on the topic, and it’s well researched.

Goodreads details: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1714876.The_Great_Influenza

Audio production by Graham Stephenson

Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue).