epidemics

America's Forgotten Pandemic is truly terrifying. The influenza pandemic of 1918 killed more people than the bubonic plague; in the U.S., 670,000 people died in 15 months. When you read of the great numbers of people dying, whole families succumbing, shortages of coffins, it’s nearly unbelievable.

All of this is set against the backdrop of the Great War in which people and cities did not want to appear unpatriotic. Americans turned out in scores for Liberty Loan parades. Young men were crammed into training camps and then troop transports, allowing the disease to spread like wildfire. This

We know the media story of the West African Ebola outbreak of 2014, but we don’t know the other story. Author, Dr. Steven Hatch focuses less on the virus itself, which was the subject of Hot Zone by Richard Preston, and instead focuses on stories of daily life under the stress of the epidemic. Less is mentioned about the specific symptoms, and more time is spent on the remarkable strength of those touched by the virus: those confirmed with it, those who help them, and everyone else affected by its contagion.

Inferno adds a steady voice to a subject that needs a calm and clear telling. That