The influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 killed as many as fifty million people worldwide and affected the vast majority of Canadians. Yet the pandemic, which came and left in one season, never to recur in any significant way, has remained difficult to interpret. What did it mean to live through and beyond this brief, terrible episode, and what were its long-term effects? Influenza 1918 uses Winnipeg as a case study to show how disease articulated abd helped to re-define boundaries of social difference. Esyllt W. Jones examines the impact of the pandemic in this fragmented community, including its role in the eruption of the largest labour confrontation in Canadian history, the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919. Arguing that labour historians have largely ignored the impact of infectious disease upon the working class, Jones draws on a wide range of primary sources including mothers' allowance and orphanage case files in order to trace the pandemic's affect on the family, the public health infrastructure, and other social institutions. This study brings into focus the interrelationships between epidemic disease and working class, gender, labour, and ethnic history in Canada. Influenza 1918 concludes that social conflict is not an inevitable outcome of epidemics, but rather of inequality and public failure to fully engage all members of the community in the fight against disease.

Between August 1918 and March 1919 a flu pandemic spread across the globe and in just under a year 40 million people had died from the virus worldwide. This is the first book to provide a total history and seriously analyze the British experiences during that time. The book provides the most up-to-date tally of the pandemic’s impact, including the vast mortality, as well as questioning the apparent origins of the pandemic. A ‘total’ history, this book ranges from the spread of the 1918–1919 pandemic, to the basic biology of influenza, and how epidemics and pandemics are possible, to consider the demographic, social, economic and political impacts of such a massive pandemic, including the cultural dimensions of naming, blame, metaphors, memory, the media, art and literature. An inter-disciplinary study, it stretches from history and geography through to medicine in order to convey the full magnitude of the first global medical ‘disaster’ of the twentieth century, and looks ahead to possible pandemics of the future. Niall Johnson brings an impressive scholarly eye on this fascinating and highly relevant topic making this essential reading for historians and those with an interest in British and medical history.

In 1918, the deadliest virus in human History struck worldwide with hardly any warning. A victim of the Spanish flu could wake up healthy and fall down dead the same day. In the United States, so many people fell ill that schools and churches closed. There werent enough healthy doctors and nurses to care for the sick, or enough healthy gravediggers to bury the dead. When U.S. troops joined World War I that year, they couldnt have imagined that more soldiers would die from the flu than fighting. The Spanish flu claimed between 50 million and 100 million lives globally in less than a year. Now, less than a century later, new strains of bird flu are killing people in Asia in much the same way. Are we on the verge of another deadly pandemic?

Butte was an incomparable city, but in late 1918, some of the things that made it so exceptional also made it incredibly cruel. That year, the Spanish flu swept across the country, killing some 675,000 Americans before year's end. Some of the country's highest mortality rates occurred in its cities--Philadelphia, San Francisco, Boston, and Butte. In less than six months, the virus killed almost 2 percent of Butte's residents and overwhelmed public health systems. Experimental treatments, civil unrest, death, and human resilience followed in the dramatic final weeks of the year. Author Janelle Olberding recounts the emotional struggle of the men and women who fought against, suffered from, and succumbed to influenza on the "Richest Hill on Earth."

The Spanish Influenza Pandemic of 1918-1919 sheds new light on what the World Health Organization described as "the single most devastating infectious disease outbreak ever recorded" by situating the Iberian Peninsula as the key point of connection, both epidemiologically and discursively, between Europe and the Americas. The essays in this volume elucidate specific aspects of the pandemic that have received minimal attention until now, including social control, gender, class, religion, national identity, and military medicine's reactions to the pandemic and its relationship with civilian medicine, all in the context of World War I. As the authors point out, however, the experiences of 1918-19 remain persistently relevant to contemporary life, particularly in view of events such as the 2009 H1N1 swine flu pandemic. Contributors: Mercedes Pascual Artiaga, Catherine Belling, Josep Bernabeu-Mestre, Ryan A, Davis, Esteban Domingo, Magda Fahrni, Hernán Feldman, Pilar León-Sanz, Maria Luísa Lima, Maria deFátima Nunes, María-Isabel Porras-Gallo, Anny Jackeline Torres Silveira, José Manuel Sobral, Paulo Silveira e Sousa, Christiane Maria Cruz de Souza. María-Isabel Porras-Gallo is Professor of History of Science in the Medical Faculty of Ciudad Real at the University of Castile-La Mancha (Spain). She is the author of Un reto para la sociedad madrileña: la epidemia de gripe de 1918-1919 and co-editor of El drama de la polio. Un problema social y familiar en la España franquista. Ryan A. Davis is Assistant Professor in the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at Illinois State University. He is the author of The Spanish Flu: Narrative and Cultural Identity in Spain, 1918.

Global history of the 1918-20 Influenza Pandemic (Spanish Flu) that delivers insights into the socio-economic implications of the COVID-19.

The Spanish Influenza pandemic of 1918-19 was the worst pandemic of modern times, claiming over 30 million lives in less than six months. In the hardest hit societies, everything else was put aside in a bid to cope with its ravages. It left millions orphaned and medical science desperate to find its cause. Despite the magnitude of its impact, few scholarly attempts have been made to examine this calamity in its many-sided complexity. On a global, multidisciplinary scale, the book seeks to apply the insights of a wide range of social and medical sciences to an investigation of the pandemic. Topics covered include the historiography of the pandemic, its virology, the enormous demographic impact, the medical and governmental responses it elicited, and its long-term effects, particularly the recent attempts to identify the precise causative virus from specimens taken from flu victims in 1918, or victims buried in the Arctic permafrost at that time.

CONTENTS By CHAPTER: Text: 1918 Pandemic Influenza Historic Timeline Photographs Newspapers: Early Warnings Newspapers: Indiana Clippings Text: The Deadliest Flu: The Complete Story of the Discovery Text: The Influenza Pandemic Of 1918 Text: The Spanish Influenza Pandemic of 1918 at Camp Sherman Journal Article: 1918 Influenza: the Mother of All Pandemics Text: Influenza of 1918 (Spanish Flu) and the US Navy Text: A Forgotten Enemy: PHS's [Public Health Service] Fight Against the 1918 Influenza Pandemic Text: Worldwide flu out break killed 45,000 American Soldiers during World War I Text: Old Selfridge Newspaper Highlights Sweethearts, Flu, War Training Text: Pandemic Influenza Storybook - I Survived Text: Pandemic Influenza Storybook - Plantings Text: Pandemic Influenza Storybook - An Immigrant's Tale Text: Pandemic Influenza Storybook - In Memorial Text: Pandemic Influenza Storybook - Finding A Cure Text: Pandemic Influenza Storybook - War Stories Text: Century After Pandemic, Science Takes Its Best Shot at Flu Text: 1918 Spanish Flu Holds Clues to Future Pandemics Text: Scientists Study Old Virus to Predict Impact of Avian Flu Pandemic Text: Doctor Reveals Origin of SARS Pandemic Text: All the City Was Dying Text: How Many Words is a Picture Worth? Text: Using Primary Sources INTRODUCTION Background The 100-year anniversary of the 1918 pandemic and the 10- year anniversary of the 2009 H1N1 pandemic are milestones that provide an opportunity to reflect on the groundbreaking work that led to the discovery, sequencing and reconstruction of the 1918 pandemic flu virus. This collaborative effort advanced understanding of the deadliest flu pandemic in modern history and has helped the global public health community prepare for contemporary pandemics, such as 2009 H1N1, as well as future pandemic threats. The 1918 H1N1 flu pandemic, sometimes referred to as the “Spanish flu,” killed an estimated 50 million people worldwide, including an estimated 675,000 people in the United States.1,2,3,4 An unusual characteristic of this virus was the high death rate it caused among healthy adults 15 to 34 years of age.3 The pandemic lowered the average life expectancy in the United States by more than 12 years.3 A comparable death rate has not been observed during any of the known flu seasons or pandemics that have occurred either prior to or following the 1918 pandemic.3 The virus’ unique severity puzzled researchers for decades, and prompted several questions, such as “Why was the 1918 virus so deadly?”, “Where did the virus originate from?”, and “What can the public health community learn from the 1918 virus to better prepare for and defend against future pandemics?

In 1918, a devastating world-wide influenza epidemic hit the United States. Killing over 600,000 Americans and causing the national death rate to jump 30% in a single year, the outbreak obstructed the country's participation in World War I and imposed terrible challenges on communities across the United States. This epidemic provides an ideal lens for understanding the history of infectious disease in the United States. The Flu Epidemic of 1918 examines the impact of the outbreak on health, medicine, government, and individual people's lives, and also explores the puzzle of Americans' decades-long silence about the experience once it was over. In a concise narrative bolstered by primary sources including newspaper articles, eye-witness accounts, and government reports, Sandra Opdycke provides undergraduates with an unforgettable introduction to the 1918 epidemic and its after-effects. Critical Moments in American History is a series of short texts designed to familiarize students with events or issues critical to the American experience. Through the use of narrative and primary documents, these books help instructors deconstruct an important moment in American history with the help of timelines, glossaries, textboxes, and a robust companion website.