Product Description

When we think of plagues, we think of AIDS, Ebola, anthrax spores, and, of course, the Black Death. But in 1918 the Great Flu Epidemic killed an estimated 40 million people virtually overnight. If such a plague returned today, taking a comparable percentage of the U.S. population with it, 1.5 million Americans would die.

In Flu, Gina Kolata, an acclaimed reporter for The New York Times, unravels the mystery of this lethal virus with the high drama of a great adventure story. From Alaska to Norway, from the streets of Hong Kong to the corridors of the White House, Kolata tracks the race to recover the live pathogen and probes the fear that has impelled government policy.

A gripping work of science writing, Flu addresses the prospects for a great epidemic's recurrence and considers what can be done to prevent it.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #159930 in Books
• Published on: 2001-01-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780743203982
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Amazon.com Review
Feeling tired, achy, and congested? You'll hope not after reading science writer Gina Kolata's engrossing Flu, a fascinating look at the 1918 epidemic that wiped out around 40 million people in less than a year and afflicted more than one of every four Americans. This tragedy, just on the heels of World War I and far more deadly, so traumatized the survivors that few would talk about it afterward. Kolata reports on the scientific investigation of this bizarre outbreak, in particular the attempts to sequence the virus' DNA from tissue samples of victims. She also looks at the social and personal effects of the disease, from improved public health awareness to the loss of productivity. (The disease affected 20- to 40-year-olds disproportionately.)

How could this disease, now almost trivial to healthy young people, have become so virulent? The answer is complex, invoking epidemiology, immunology, and even psychology, but Kolata cuts a swath through medical papers and statistical reports to tell a story of an out-of-control virus exploiting an exhausted world on the brink of transition into modern society. Through letters, interviews, and news reports, she pieces together a cautionary tale that captures the horror of a devastating illness. Research marches onward, but we're still at the mercy of something as simple as the flu. --Rob Lightner

From Publishers Weekly
"It was a plague so deadly that if a similar virus were to strike today, it would kill more people in a single year than heart disease, cancers, strokes, chronic pulmonary disease, AIDS and Alzheimer's disease combined." Between 20 million and 100 million people worldwide died in the 1918 flu pandemic, but for years afterward this deadliest plague in history was almost completely forgotten. Histories and even medical texts rarely mentioned it. This disconnect between the flu's devastation and its obscurity is the starting point for Kolata's incisive history. She explains how the plague spread, covers the various speculations about its causes and origins and gives an account of the search to retrieve a specimen of the virus strain once genetic science had advanced enough to unravel the virus's mysteries. Tissue samplesAfrom an obese woman buried in the permafrost of Alaska and from two soldiers who died in army campsApreserved by the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in thumb-sized bits of paraffin prove to be the last remaining sources of the 1918 strain. Kolata, a science writer for the New York Times and author of Clone, profiles the scientists who tracked down these samples, follows their investigations and explains their conclusions. Could such a deadly flu appear again? Many scientists fear it could, hence their quick response to the 1997 outbreak of chicken flu in Hong Kong, which led to the slaughter of 1.2 million birds and, Kolata argues, averted another worldwide disaster. Clearly explaining both the science and the social toll of the pandemic, Kolata writes an admirable history and soberly spells out how the U.S. government is preparedAor unpreparedAfor a similar public health threat today. (Nov.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
The science reporter for the New York Times examines one of the worst epidemics in history.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Informative read and a couple of adventure stories too
First off, this book is some things and is not some things. It is very informative and was well researched, there are lots of footnotes at the end. Much of the chapters read as separate articles that could stand independently. What it is not is a novel like read similar to the story that appears in Hot Zone.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading and learning about the 1918 flu and about the modern researchers trying to find clues to what made that flu so deadly. If you are interested in knowing about that topic then I give this book a strong recommendation. If you are looking for a novel type page turner you'll probably be disappointed.

There was one situation that made the whole work worth reading to me, maybe because I have a weird sense of humor. That was the telling of two separate research expeditions into the frozen north to dig up bodies of people that had died of the 1918 flu. One team was filled with experts, used x-ray to search, spent years planning, spent tons of money, had tons of media present. Didn't get results, the bodies were too decomposed.

The other expedition was one guy with a pick. Well actually he got a few villagers to help him dig, but he spent only a few thousand of his own money and got results, real helpful results, in a couple of weeks.

I also found the detailing of a flu scare that happened in Hong Kong with a jump from chickens to humans a very interesting story. How that scare and the research that went into studying it and comparing that to the 1918 ordeal was fascinating.

There is a bit of information here about the politics of the Swine Flu panic in the 1970's and how the Ford administration dealt with it. Some of the same kinds of questions and issues are relevant today with all the threats of toxic warfare.

If you find the topic of the 1918 flu interesting and how it relates to modern day problems and solutions this book is a strong recommendation.

major disappointment, read barry's "the great influenza" instead
I've gotten pretty interested in this subject, and have read several books on the pandemic. John Barry's "The Great Influenza" is by far the best, a wonderfully written and driving narrative that also provides an enormous amount of important context that is woven into the story-- everything from the founding of Johns Hopkins Medical School and Wilson's presidency to an understanding of the interplay between the virus and the immune system. This also tells us much about what might happen right now, as we face the threat of a new pandemic. Crosby's book is excellent but a distinct second to Barry's, unless you're looking for tables of statistics, which barry doesn't have. This book, Gina Kolata's, is superficial tripe. Like a few other reviewers here, I think it reads like a newspaper story about the now-dated effort to extract the virus from frozen bodies, and tells you little or nothing about events in 1918 itself. If you wnat to read about trying to resurrect the virus a few years ago, neither Barry nor Crosby mention it. If you want to read about 1918, or learn about the science, get Barry's book. If you want statistics, get Crosby's.

Excellent introduction to the 1918 flu story
For those familiar with the intricacies of the 1918 flu, this book may not be one to keep on the bookshelves. However, for those (such as myself) who know about this pandemic only peripherally, it was an entertaining and engaging introduction to the devastation of the 1918 influenza epidemic. But most intriguingly, this book places the 1918-19 pandemic into the current world view of disease and how we can and should respond to it. Unlike some of the other reviewers, I appreciated very much reading about the swine flu vaccination fiasco and the subsequent "bird-flu" interventions. What this book has done for me is ignited my interest in studying it further (is there any greater compliment?) and introduced me to some of the scientists investigating the pandemic currently (though I do agree with a previous reviewer that the depiction of Dr. Duncan was a bit inappropriate). But most importantly, the pandemic is interpreted in the science and medicine of today, with an eye on the future. I would heartily recommend this book to people interested in medicine, immunology, or virology....especially if they, like I, have not been introduced to this topic in their schooling. And now I am going to order the Crosby book!