
The Great Influenza
The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
3 months free
Buy for $18.00
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Scott Brick
-
By:
-
John M. Barry
In the winter of 1918, 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 24 weeks than AIDS has killed in 24 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 between modern science and epidemic disease.
Magisterial in its breadth of perspective and depth of research, The Great Influenza weaves together multiple narratives, with characters ranging from William Welch, founder of the Johns Hopkins Medical School, to John D. Rockefeller and Woodrow Wilson. Ultimately a tale of triumph amid tragedy, this crisis provides us with a precise and sobering model as we confront the epidemics looming on our own horizon.
©2004, 2005 John M. Barry (P)2006 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...




















Critic reviews
"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)
People who viewed this also viewed...


















The Great Infulenza
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
There are so many similarities today to the 1918 Influenza. So much learned and disregarded or forgotten. The book explains the science involved to identify the influenza and some it applies to the Coronavirus. The rapid spread is also similar. This book is a great listen. The story is very engaging and the narrator is good.
Highly recommended.
Listened to it 4 times
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
However - and this is a big however - Scott Brick's narration is SO syrupy, sing-songy, and melodramatic that I found it very difficult to listen to. Brick appears to be the favorite narrator of the audiobook world, but his delivery is so cloying that it actually undermines the drama native to the account of the 1918 epidemic. History doesn't need to be acted as though it were a radio melodrama.
Extraordinary torture
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Great public health
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A Terrifying Distant Mirror
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
a great history of our medical exploration
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Great book! Four stars from a tough critic...
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
I absolutely recommend this to everyone. It is an in-depth examination into the history we don't learn in our textbooks in school. The author transports you to the early 20th century and guides you through every aspect that made the 1919 Influenza Pandemic possible.What was one of the most memorable moments of The Great Influenza?
For years, I have taught my students that Woodrow Wilson died of a stroke. No longer. The author's evidence is compelling enough that I researched this fact myself (formerly I just accepted what was written in most history books). For all intents and purposes, Woodrow Wilson died of complications due to influenza.What three words best describe Scott Brick’s voice?
Smooth, mesmerizing, compelling.Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
Especially moving was the discussion of how the bodies piled up so quickly, emergency responders and city officials either too sick or too afraid to clear the streets, family members too ill to even remove bodies of their loved ones from their homes. The generation of orphans that the pandemic left is staggering.Any additional comments?
As someone who rather enjoys dis-topian sci-fi as well as the armageddon-zombie-disaster genre, this book totally delivers. Except it's non-fiction. Made me want to stock up on hand sanitizer and move forward with my doomsday pantry.Who needs fiction like The Walking Dead
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This book was very informative, if not unsetteling. I recommend this to everyone.
Scott brick does an awsome job with the narration.
Lots of info on progression of medical field
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
What is certain is that, as usual, humanity has learned nothing at all from past mistakes, those we should listen to see ignored and those who we should ignore are placed on a pedestal.
Back to the future?
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.