America's Forgotten Pandemic
The Influenza of 1918

Tracing the influenza pandemic of 1918–1919 that claimed over 25 million lives worldwide.

Alfred W. Crosby (Author)

9780521541756, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 21 July 2003

356 pages, 3 b/w illus. 1 map 9 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.5 cm, 0.52 kg

"...fascinating..." New York Sun

Between August 1918 and March 1919 the Spanish influenza spread worldwide, claiming over 25 million lives - more people than perished in the fighting of the First World War. It proved fatal to at least a half-million Americans. Yet, the Spanish flu pandemic is largely forgotten today. In this vivid narrative, Alfred W. Crosby recounts the course of the pandemic during the panic-stricken months of 1918 and 1919, measures its impact on American society, and probes the curious loss of national memory of this cataclysmic event. This 2003 edition includes a preface discussing the then recent outbreaks of diseases, including the Asian flu and the SARS epidemic.

Part I. An Abrupt Introduction to Spanish Influenza: 1. The great shadow
Part II. Spanish Influenza: The First Wave - Spring and Summer, 1918: 2. The advance of the influenza virus
3. Three explosions - Africa, Europe, and America
Part III. The Second and Third Waves: 4. The United States begins to take note
5. Spanish Influenza sweeps the country
6. Flu in Philadelphia
7. Flu in San Francisco
8. Flu at sea on voyage to France
9. Flu and the American expeditionary force
10. Flu and the Paris Peace Conference
Part IV. Measurements, Research, Conclusions, and Confusions: 11. Statistics, definitions, and speculations
12. Samoa and Alaska
13. Research, frustration, and the isolation of the virus
14. Where did the flu of 1918 go?
Part V. Afterword: 15. An inquiry in the peculiarities of human memory.

Subject Areas: History of science [PDX], History of medicine [MBX], 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000 [HBLW], History of the Americas [HBJK]