Home > Work > Pandemic 1918: The Story of the Deadliest Influenza in History
1 " The experience bestowed a strange psychological legacy, leaving Steinbeck with a profound sense of vulnerability which shaped him as a writer. "
― Catharine Arnold , Pandemic 1918: The Story of the Deadliest Influenza in History
2 " the disturbing possibility that the Spanish Lady might stage a return visit, "
3 " In a strange twist on the concept of flu prevention, ‘vaudeville theaters were only allowed to be half full – members of the audience had to leave the seat on either side empty so that they would not breathe on one another. To further protect themselves many wore surgical masks, so that even when they laughed the sound was muffled. "
4 " In his study of Dr Leo Stanley, the historian Ethan Blue makes it clear that Stanley was no ordinary prison doctor. Dr Leo Stanley was a eugenicist who later became famous for a bizarre series of medical experiments conducted upon the prison population of San Quentin. "
5 " Influenza had brought the all-conquering German army to its knees, while the Allies, stricken too, took advantage of their enemy’s weakness to regroup. "
6 " One victim was sixteen-year-old John Steinbeck. The future author of The Grapes of Wrath returned home from his Californian school one day looking ‘pale and dizzy "
7 " I went down and down,’ he remembered, ‘until the wingtips of angels brushed my eyes. "
8 " Medical science had little to offer in the way of prevention or cure, apart from the process of disinfection, notification and isolation as recommended by Dr Niven. There was little consensus on treatment apart from the traditional recourse to bed rest, opiates and folk remedies, while to make matters worse, significant individuals refused to take the threat of Spanish flu seriously. "
9 " This drastic treatment worked, and John recovered sufficiently to attend the last three weeks of school before the summer recess, but he was left with lung problems for the rest of his life. "
10 " William Maxell, who became Mary’s editor at the New Yorker. William recalled a poignant sense of loss when his own mother and new-born sibling died from the disease: ‘From that time on there was a sadness which had not existed before, a deep down sadness that never went away. We aren’t safe. Nobody’s safe. Terrible things can happen to anyone at any time.’36 "
11 " THE ACTUAL WORD ‘influenza’ dates from around 1500, when the Italians introduced the term for diseases that they attributed to the ‘influence’ of the stars. Another possible origin was the Italian phrase influenza di freddo, the influence of the cold. "
12 " Stressing that ‘the many shall not be placed in danger by the few’, the paper urged readers to wear a mask. ‘Those who are not doing so are not showing their independence – they are only showing their indifference for the lives of others – for the lives of the women and the helpless little children who cannot help themselves. "
