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The Great Influenza: The True Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History (Young Readers Edition) Audiobook
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(4.67) - 12 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
#1 New York Times bestseller
“Barry will teach you almost everything you need to know about one of the deadliest outbreaks in human history.”—Bill Gates
"Monumental... an authoritative and disturbing morality tale."—Chicago Tribune
The strongest weapon against pandemic is the truth. Read why in the definitive account of the 1918 Flu Epidemic.
Magisterial in its breadth of perspective and depth of research, The Great Influenza provides us with a precise and sobering model as we confront the epidemics looming on our own horizon. As Barry concludes, "The final lesson of 1918, a simple one yet one most difficult to execute, is that...those in authority must retain the public's trust. The way to do that is to distort nothing, to put the best face on nothing, to try to manipulate no one. Lincoln said that first, and best. A leader must make whatever horror exists concrete. Only then will people be able to break it apart."
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 twenty-four months than AIDS killed in twenty-four 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 of science and epidemic disease.
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"Excellent book that describes the history of a pandemic that killed at least 40 million people worldwide in a year's time. Though it was coined, "Spanish Influenza", the flu probablyoriginated in Kansas, the provides a view of the history of medicine in the UnitedStates. "
— Jeanne (5 out of 5 stars)
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Over a year on The New York Times bestseller list
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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 -
"A sobering account of the 1918 flu epidemic, compelling and timely. —The Boston Globe
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"History brilliantly written... The Great Influenza is a masterpiece.
— Baton Rouge Advocate
The Great Influenza Listener Reviews
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" I listened to this on audio tape and found it fascinating.If I had been sitting in my living room reading rather than driving, I might have lost interest or fell asleep which I never did driving.<br/>The detail and the fascinating people and appalling mistakes held me. "
— Pat, 5/19/2011 -
" fascinating at so many levels. A great history of the practice of medicine in the US, about the terrible influenza of 1918-19 and even the war! "
— Tom, 4/13/2011 -
" Barry does a great job in covering all the basis about how and why the flu was able to spread and kill thousands of people around 1918. My father lived through it as small boy in Philadelphia, a city mentioned often in the book. It was so interesting to hear his own experiences at the time. "
— Pat, 4/10/2011 -
" Reads like a horror novel. Make the move now! :D "
— Ryan, 3/27/2011 -
" Interesting history of the 1918 influenza pandemic with additional background on the state of American and world medical practice, education, and research leading up to the turn of the century. "
— Lindsay, 3/26/2011
About John M. Barry
John M. Barry is a prize-winning and New York Times bestselling author whose books have won several dozen awards. In 2005 the National Academies of Science named The Great Influenza as the year’s outstanding book on science or medicine. His other books have won the Francis Parkman Prize of the Society of American Historians and have been named a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. He has had considerable influence on both pandemic policy and flood protection. Both the Bush and Obama administrations sought his advice on influenza preparedness and response, and he was a member of the original team which developed plans for non-pharmaceutical interventions to mitigate a pandemic. The National Academies of Science asked him to give the keynote speech at its first international scientific meeting on pandemic influenza, and he was the only non-scientist on a federal government Infectious Disease Board of Experts.
About Mike Chamberlain
Mike Chamberlain is an actor and voice-over performer in Los Angeles whose audiobook narration has won several AudioFile Earphones Awards. His voice credits range from radio commercials and television narration to animation and video game characters. Stage trained at Boston College, he has performed works from Shakespeare and the classics to contemporary drama and comedy.