Given the global pandemic we are currently undergoing, it seemed entirely appropriate to read about the last global pandemic: how it was experienced, understood, and its effects. Barry primarily examines the effect of the Influenza within the United States and the (American-centered) attempts to combat virus. Barry grounds his history in the men and women who worked in labs across the eastern States to uncover how the virus was transmitted, its epidemiology, and possible approaches to stopping, or at least slowing, it.
What struck me most was how dissimilar the symptoms, spread, and toll between the Influenza and Covid-19 are. The Influenza spread like a whirlwind and took down people at an astonishing and terrifying pace. Given the US response to Covid-19, not noted for being either aggressive or proactive, it is somewhat terrifying to imagine the effect of the Influenza in our modern context. There are lessons to learn from each.
