If you want to learn about the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic but don’t have the time or patience to read a thick book, then this is the short and concise book for you!! The book “The 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic in America: A Short History” covers many aspects of the flu pandemic, including:

• The virus is believed to have originated in Kansas, from there it spread rapidly throughout the armies on both sides of World War I.
• The state of medicine in the early twentieth century was such that it was of little help to the unlucky many that fell ill with the virus. Researchers in America and Europe searched in vain for an effective vaccine for the Spanish flu.
• Troop ships, such as the massive “Leviathan”, became virtual death ships as they crossed the Atlantic Ocean spreading the viral contagion between the shores of North America and the continent of Europe.
• The second wave of the flu appeared in the fall of 1918 and was more deadly than the initial wave. This second wave targeted young adults, robbing families of their parents, leaving many orphans.
• On the east coast of America in the cities of Philadelphia and New York, the outbreaks were handled in quite different ways. Reminiscent of the fourteenth century black death plague, in Philadelphia, priests went throughout the city with horse drawn carts calling for the resident to bring out the dead.
• Kansas City, situated not far from the epicenter of the initial outbreak was racked by political wrangling and suffered greatly from the disease.
• On the west coast of America, in the cities of San Francisco and Seattle they fearfully waited for the contagion to spread from the east, just to realize how unprepared they were for the coming wave of illness.
• The events of 1918 and 1919 and the spread of the Spanish flu are eerily similar to the COVID-19 flu pandemic of 2020 and 2021. Many lessons can be learned from events of over a century ago that are applicable today.