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Title: Very, Very, Very Dreadful
Subtitle: The Influenza Pandemic of 1918
Author: Albert Marrin
Narrator: Jim Frangione
Format: Unabridged
Length: 5 hrs and 44 mins
Language: English
Release date: 01-09-18
Publisher: Listening Library
Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 8 votes
Genres: Teens, Ages 11-13

Publisher's Summary:
From National Book Award finalist Albert Marrin comes a fascinating look at the history and science of the deadly 1918 flu pandemic - and the chances for another worldwide pandemic.
In spring of 1918, World War I was underway, and troops at Fort Riley, Kansas, found themselves felled by influenza. By the summer of 1918, the second wave struck as a highly contagious and lethal epidemic and within weeks exploded into a pandemic, an illness that travels rapidly from one continent to another. It would impact the course of the war, and kill many millions more soldiers than warfare itself.
Of all diseases, the 1918 flu was by far the worst that has ever afflicted humankind; not even the Black Death of the Middle Ages comes close in terms of the number of lives it took. No war, no natural disaster, no famine has claimed so many. In the space of 18 months in 1918-1919, about 500 million people - one-third of the global population at the time - came down with influenza. The exact total of lives lost will never be known, but the best estimate is between 50 and 100 million.
In this powerful book, nonfiction master Albert Marrin examines the history, science, and impact of this great scourge - and the possibility for another worldwide pandemic today.

Members Reviews:
Great Historical Perspective, Not Really a Book Written by an Expert on Influenza
The Good: This book has a lot of interesting historical information about the 1918 flu pandemic, as well as some about H5N1. It is well written, and flows easily.
The Mediocre: There is a lot of historical information regarding the events leading up to the 1918 flu pandemic, especially about World War 1. I really wasn't expecting to read so much about the first World War, though it is useful information to put the 1918 flu pandemic into perspective, and so this was OK, however as the book has 30 pages of bibliography, there really is less talking about the flu, such as what the health authorities were thinking, and more ink spent on historical information. Also, the book seems to be written at the young adult level, so it is not as comprehensive as I would have liked.
The Not-So-Good: Some of the science is wrong, although the author makes a spirited attempt to explain the flu virus and how it replicates in the human body in plain terms. Such as when the author states that chemicals called "cytokines" detect the invading flu virus, when in fact it is the cells of the immune system that do the detecting and then release messenger molecules like cytokines. Unexpectedly, the author segues into bioterrorism at the end of the book, and the question of will another naturally occurring flu pandemic like the 1918 flu happen again is, somewhat predictably, not answered as really nobody can answer that question.
Conclusion: This is not a comprehensive book on the 1918 Flu, or influenza, though the historical details are interesting. I didn't get what I was looking for, (this isn't a scientific or expert perspective), but I got a lot of great historical context and information to help me understand some of what people experienced at the time.