Very, Very, Very Dreadful: The Influenza Pandemic of 1918 by Albert Marrin

Published: 1/9/2018

Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers

Pages: 195

Genre: Diseases/ US history

Review: audiobook recommended 

Amazon

In spring of 1918, World War I was underway, and troops at Fort Riley, Kansas, found themselves felled by influenza. By the summer of 1918, the second wave struck as a highly contagious and lethal epidemic and within weeks exploded into a pandemic, an illness that travels rapidly from one continent to another. It would impact the course of the war, and kill many millions more soldiers than warfare itself.

Of all diseases, the 1918 flu was by far the worst that has ever afflicted humankind; not even the Black Death of the Middle Ages comes close in terms of the number of lives it took. No war, no natural disaster, no famine has claimed so many. In the space of eighteen months in 1918-1919, about 500 million people--one-third of the global population at the time--came down with influenza. The exact total of lives lost will never be known, but the best estimate is between 50 and 100 million.

In this powerful book, filled with black and white photographs, nonfiction master Albert Marrin examines the history, science, and impact of this great scourge--and the possibility for another worldwide pandemic today.

Author April Henry had recommended this on the book on her page, and I decided to give it a try. I searched my local libraries, and they only had it in audiobook, which I do not really like. But, I was willing to give it a try, and I have to say it was pretty interesting. I really liked the information on how the 1918 flu pandemic hit and what was done. I enjoyed listening to how we as people did not have the right hygiene, especially when taking care of those in war or sick. Medical instruments were just cleaned in water and reused, which of use was to be expected, but that is just crazy to me; doctors came in to work on patients in their normal clothes and so forth. But, as the years go on, we learn that hygiene and truly cleaning instruments used for surgery and other things played a big part in it all. Not just washing in tap water. I felt that this was up to date on how we have evolved from the 1918 flu pandemic and how the viruses are transmitted.  I felt that this was very informative, and I enjoyed learning about this pandemic as I do not remember learning about this in school. My biggest thing with it all is when the author, or maybe the person doing the audiobook, compared death to the Taliban. I am not sure technically what that has to do with anything. I felt we could have left the whole religion thing out of this, so I had to drop it down to four stars. 

Albert Marrin is an award winning author of over 40 books for young adults and young readers and four books of scholarship. These writings were motivated by the fact that as a teacher, first in a junior high school in New York City for nine years and then as professor of history and chairman of the history department at Yeshiva University until he retired to become a full time writer, his paramount interest has always been to make history come alive and accessible for young people.

Winner of the 2008 National Endowment for Humanities Medal for his work, which was presented at the White House, was given "for opening young minds to the glorious pageant of history. His books have made the lessons of the past come alive with rich detail and energy for a new generation."

Dr. Marrin's numerous other awards include the Washington Post Childrens'Book Guild Lifetime Achievement Award, the James Madison Award for Lifetime Achievement, several Horn Book awards by the Boston Globe, consistently appearing on the best book of the year lists of the American Library Association, frequent recognition by Book Lists, and the Western Heritage Award for best juvenile nonfiction book presented at the National Cowboy Hall of Fame among others.