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A fascinating look at the history and pre-pandemic state of influenza. Brown starts with historical accounts of the flu, including what made the 1918 flu so widespread and deadly. He looks at modern vaccines and how they‘re made. He discusses what was kept in the US government storage that was bare for Covid just a few years after this was published. Most interesting for me was his look at the lack of efficacy of antivirals like Tamiflu.

Read for #Booked2021 Fall edition/Jewish author

This was similar in style to Doctorow‘s masterpiece ‘Ragtime‘ in its depiction of a moment in history told from multiple viewpoints. Not all who join at the start of Sherman‘s march from Augusta GA to Durham NC will finish. As with any novel about war, there‘s a lot of brutality and sadness; some hope too, but we know now the US Civil War would expose a wound which is still not healed to this day.