The Great Influenza by John M. Barry (2006, Unabridged, Compact Disc)

Barry began his research intending to focus on how Americans coped with the twin overlapping burdens of WWI and the influenza outbreak of 1918. What he learned so stunned him that he changed directions. The result is a riveting account of a natural, political, and social disaster of such proportion that the fictional medical-techno-horror thrillers of Michael Crichton and Robin Cook pall by comparison. At a time when there were few public health standards and when medical knowledge was near-medieval, anywhere from 21 to 100 million people died worldwide in this pandemic, 50% of them able-bodied 20 to 30 year-olds. The disease began at a Kansas military base. Despite its virulence, the government’s wartime propaganda machine would tolerate no lowering of US morale. It ignored the staggering death count, lied to the public and kept the troops – and the disease – moving, all over the world. Scott Brick, his voice involuntarily quavering now and again with sadness and outrage, makes the most of the author’s use of incremental repetition. Each time he says “it was only influenza” he draws bigger goosebumps. Expect to be appalled.