Kirsty Duncan

Kirsty Duncan apent years tracking down the most feasible place to find samples of the 1918 influenza virus, the most virulent and deadly plague the world has ever known. With unfaiing tact and patience, she got permission from the Norwegian and local governments, as well as the Lutheran church and living relatives of the flu victims, and assembled an international team. Then things started to get complicated. The Canadians and Norwegians worked well together throughout, but the Americans dithered and bailed, and the English grandstanded, made strange public statements, refused to release grant money that supposedly belonged to the team, (not to mention the samples eventually obtained and data therefrom) and ended with a dramatic attempt to steal academic credit.

I learned something about the 1918 flu, something about Norway and life in the Arctic, some very interesting findings about the flu virus, and a whole lot more than I ever wanted to know about academic infighting. Kirsty Duncan is a brave and determined woman to get through all that with her temper, sanity, and values intact.… (more)