INFLUENZA
Song: Don’t Talk About the Flu
One of the first songs I wrote for the show–even before I knew I was writing a show. I was in quarantine and reading a book about the last worldwide pandemic. I was particularly struck by the official policy of the U.S. government and U.S. army to avoid any discussion of the influenza outbreak because doing so could hurt morale.
Note: This is not a comprehensive list of resources (or even close to one). These are resources that I can vouch for because I’ve read, listened to, or watched them. And they have directly impacted the writing of After the War: 1919 and the Search for Peace. If you have a resource you’d like to share, I want to know! Please send me an email at remember@mobilizethepoets.com. -Ken
Books
The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History by John Barry
Since covid there have been many books about the influenza pandemic of 1918 (the so-called “Spanish Flu”). But this one of the firs,t and it seems to me that John Barry has become a bit of a go-to resource for the topic. As the title implies it’s an epic tale that includes a recent history of medicine, the oppressive policies of the U.S. government during and after WWI, and the plight of immigrants and other marginalized communities in the U.S. and abroad. He’s one of the first (that I know of) to suggest that Wilson had influenza and not a stroke while in Paris for the Peace Conference. And he traces an inquiry by the Army Morale Board of the Wisconsin newspaper the Jefferson County Union for reporting about the “epidemic.”
When I shared the song with him he said was surprised to like it (understandably–I always wonder how anyone could like a song about the flu–which is basically what he said).
Podcasts
Radiolab: Dispatchers from 1918
If you’ve ever listened to Radiolab, then you know that it’s awesome. This episode was created during covid quarantine and explores the influenza pandemic from several different angles–including the “stroke” of Woodrow Wilson in 1919.