The strength of Spinney’s book is that it takes global perspective. Of course, these days there is a sort of grim desire to understand what happened in 1918 and what – if any – lessons can be learned. In fact, among the fascinating questions this book examines is why such a world-changing event isn’t more diligently studied. Furthermore, Spanish Flu never achieved the mystique of the Black Death. It was overshadowed by its more explosive, if less lethal, co-event, World War I – the war that was fallaciously believed to hold the promise of ending all wars. Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How It Changed the World by Laura Spinneyīefore the present-day COVID-19 pandemic, the Spanish Flu of 1918 seemed to be a largely forgotten historical footnote.
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