This book published in 2004 after 7 years of work, warns that we will have another pandemic. Be prepared.

Alas, the chapters do not have titles, only the sections do.

Chapter 1: Truth seeps in gradually, but change is very slow. Placebos were named as still being prescribed today in America, Germany & Japan. The discussion jumps back and forth across centuries to make the author’s point that improvement is generally resisted with great vigor.

Chapter 2 & 3: William Henry Welch

Chapter 4: Other notable people - the development of medicine in America

Chapter 10: Woodrow Wilson imposed censorship, etc. in the United States, coming down harshly against those who spoke against the government policies. Truth was also distorted to promote his goals. “To shape public opinion, Wilson established the first modern propaganda office.” (Wikipedia)

Chapter 11: A little about Woodrow Wilson; Mostly about overcrowding, etc. causing rampant disease in military camps.

Chapter 15: “THE 1918 INFLUENZA PANDEMIC, like many other influenza pandemics, came in waves. The first spring wave killed few, but the second wave would be lethal.” (First Paragraph)

Chapter 18: “Capps did write the JAMA article. He reported finding the masks so successful that after less than three weeks of experimenting he had abandoned testing and simply started using them as “a routine measure.”

Chapter 19: “In Philadelphia, meanwhile, fear came and stayed. Death could come from anyone, anytime. People moved away from others on the sidewalk, avoided conversation; if they did speak, they turned their faces away to avoid the other person’s breathing. People became isolated, increasing the fear.”

Chapter 32: Woodrow Wilson lost mental capacity after being infected by influenza. There were after effects in 1918 and we see residual effects in people infected in 2020. Thus, even if it doesn’t kill, it may have long lasting effects on the person infected.

Chapter Afterword: “For if there is a single dominant lesson from 1918, it’s that governments need to tell the truth in a crisis. Risk communication implies managing the truth. You don’t manage the truth. You tell the truth.“ In the absence of truth, terror reigns. ( )

Young readers notwithstanding, this is a scaled down version of the original which I listened to for 19 and a half hours a few years ago on audiobook. That one was excellent but occasionally a bit more technical than others might like (I am a retired nurse). This is timeless history as we have learned with the recent COVID pandemic and people need to know the similarities and differences in the human responses.
I am giving this caveat because the copy I requested and received from PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group, Viking Books for Young Readers via NetGalley is not TTS enabled. ( )

All the book's other merits and shortfalls notwithstanding, one should bear in mind, that this narrative is tremendously focused on US experience of the influenza of 1918-19. An outrageously enormous skew, for that matter. Events in Europe and the rest of the world are mentioned mostly in the passing.

This book basically predicts COVID in the afterward and how unprepared we are for a pandemic. ( )

A riveting account of the 1918 influenza pandemic and its historical context. In the movie OUTBREAK, the heroes save the day. In this story, there were many heroes but; they were too late to save between 50 and 100 million people. "