The Great Influenza cover art

The Great Influenza

The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Great Influenza

By: John M. Barry
Narrated by: Scott Brick
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £16.99

Buy Now for £16.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

The number one New York Times best seller.

In 1918, the world faced the deadliest pandemic in human history. What can the story of the so-called Spanish Flu teach us about the fight against present day crises and how to prepare for future outbreaks?

At the height of WWI, 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 months than AIDS 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 of science and epidemic disease.

Magisterial in its breadth of perspective and depth of research, The Great Influenza is ultimately a tale of triumph amid tragedy, which provides us with a precise and sobering model as we confront the aftermath of Covid-19 and future pandemics looming on the horizon.

©2004 John M. Barry (P)2020 Penguin Audio Biological Sciences Contagious Diseases History & Commentary Medicine & Health Care Industry Military Physical Illness & Disease Science Imperialism Health care War

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Biography of Resistance cover art
Plagues upon the Earth cover art
Blood and Guts cover art
The Making of Oliver Cromwell cover art
Atomic Accidents cover art
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich cover art
Phantom Plague cover art
The Spanish Flu cover art
Alone at Dawn cover art
Manhunt cover art
The Next Pandemic cover art
Between Hope and Fear cover art
Pandora’s Lab cover art
Viruses, Plagues, and History cover art
Operation Paperclip cover art
And the Band Played On cover art
All stars
Most relevant  
Great book. an eye-opening book. The storry tolds us, how unprepeard we are. and how much we must know, and how brawe we must be in the face of such awents. And i am sorry to say, but not much of us are like whe have to be...🫣

How mutch truth maters!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Enjoyed this book very much clear and concise information about a virus that could be happening now and you compare both the 1918 virus as Covid19 uncanny who the seem to have the same journey and response from countries and governments in both centuries!?? 👀

Very interesting and informative..

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This book primarily covers the US. Global coverage is limited. I was hoping for coverage of the pandemic across the world.

Lots of interesting science very relevant to the Covid pandemic.

Style and performance is somewhat florid.

Very relevant in 2021.

Limited to the US

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I enjoyed the whole audiobook but personally I found the second half of the book more interesting and more about influenza than the first though as my background is biology that may be personal preference as the first part was about the development of research institutions in the US. Narration was very good.

Detailed and Interesting

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The core subject matter of this book was fascinating and well-written, but the listener must endure needlessly long and detailed diatribes about various US scientists both before and after the actual story of the pandemic. Even when it finally gets to that the story, whole book remains crassly America-centric, as if only Americans suffered and only American scientists saved the day.

I didn't bother with the last 80 minutes as the book once again descended into trivial detail over what happened to the brave American science after the pandemic.

Narrator also prone to a melodramatic tone.

Interested filling sandwiched by long ramblings

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I loved this book. Reading it while COVID - 19 pandemic in progress is surreal and eye opening. Please read it and make a better world tommorow.

Wonderful book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
very detailed about the events in the US. The rest of the world is mentorer only very briefly.

Too centered on the US

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
100 million dead, overwhelmingly the young and the fit. Authorities not knowing what to do. Children starving to death as their parents died and neighbours too scared of the disease to come and help.

Why do we not know the story of the 1918/19 Flu pandemic as well as we know that of WWI, WWII and the Holocaust?

If anything we should know it better as the risk of it happening again was so stark. As COVID-19 shows. Thankfully the latter is a mild strain in comparison.

This book is perhaps overly long and focuses overwhelmingly on the USA (where the virus, despite it’s name as ‘The Spanish Flu’ probably started). The diversions into the emergence of American Medicine are however interesting. At the turn of the 20th century, lack of public funds and a believe in deregulation which gave rise to quackery and a lack of public trust, meant US medicine and medical research lagged far behind Europe.

The key story however is one that should be taught to every schoolchild and politician.

Because the book was written and recorded before Covid-19, the afterword is particularly depressing. The author concludes that only far greater spending and preparedness on a further flu outbreak will save thousands of lives and only politicians willing to invest in advance, and tell the truth when an outbreak occurs can prevent a feeling of terror, helplessness and economic collapse.

This should have been put on Netflix 6 months ago. Essential listening.

Why do I not know this story already?!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Beautifully written, excellently researched and put together to give such an amazing lesson on the history, thoughts, fears and dedication of all those fighting and living through this period, and a shocking reminder of more recent events and the lessons we just didn’t listen to, as a species and of our respective governments!

A must read/listen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Very well written and the narration is very easy to follow and kept my interest throughout. Found this was one of, if not the, best book which covered the Great Influenza and the chaos that ensued. Would thoroughly recommend this audiobook to those interested in this topic.

Thoroughly Enjoyable

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews