Fever of War - The Influenza Epidemic in the U.S. Army during World War I (Hardcover)

aIt is a must read for anyone interested in military or health care history.a--"Nursing History Review"

Fever of War is well written, meticulously researched, and poses much food for thought.a
&$151;"On Point"

"Prof. Byerly's superb research and writing bring to life an event that held the world in its terrible grasp for more than a year. Compelling and enlightening, "Fever of War" is well worth the reading."
--"Armchair General Magazine"

"This is a well-written, well-researched book that generally statys tightly on topic"--H-War

"Byerly's book provides a wealth of fascinating detail. Everyone with an interest in the 1918-19 pandemic will profit from reading it"--Journal of the History of Medicine

"A significant contribution to both military, social, and medical history. . . . Fills a void and provides a valuable corrective to a literature that ignored the role of the army in creating conditions that maximized mortality, glorified the role of the military, and provided explanations that shifted responsibility to individual and racial susceptibilities."
--"American Historical Review"

"In this lucid, well-focused book, Byerly (Univ. of Colorado) examines the 1918 influenza pandemic as experienced by the American Expeditionary Force. In writing this important analysis, Byerly joins scholars such as Alfred Crosby, whose classic study America's Forgotten Pandemic: The Influenza of 1918 remains the benchmark, and John Barry, whose The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague inHistory focuses on the role of public health. Byerly's prose is exceptionally clear and elegant. Highly recommended."
--"Choice"

a" Fever of War" is handsome, readable, and extensively researched.a
--JAMA

"In this era of threats of anthrax, smallpox, SARS, and bird flue, are we any less assured of our ability to conquer disease than the generation of 1918? Perhaps Byerly's account of the great influenza epidemic is a clarion call to wake us from our own hubris."
--"Military Review"

aByerlyas book provides a wealth of fascinating detail. Everyone with an interest in the 1918a19 pandemic will profit from reading it.a
--"Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences"

aa]a significant contribution to both military, social, and medical historya].fills a void and provides a valuable corrective to a literature that ignored the role of the army in creating conditions that maximized mortality, glorified the role of the military, and provided explanations that shifted responsibility to individual and racial susceptibilities.a--"American Historical Review"

""Fever of War" is an outstanding addition to the literature on U.S. participation in World War I . . . based on exhaustive research and thorough engagement with the published scholarship in medical, military, and social history. An important book whose fluently written exposition is well balanced between rigorous analysis and sensitive attention to the human beings--doctors and victims alike--who worked and suffered through the pandemic."
--Robert H. Zieger, author of "America's Great War: The American Experience in World War I"

""Fever of War" is handsome, readable, and extensively researched...It is awell-priced and wonderful addition to the historical literature and highly recommended to anyone with an interest in the influenza pandemic of 1918-1919."
--Burke A. Cunha, MD, "The Journal of the American Medical Association"

""Fever of War" makes a powerful argument. One cannot walk away from the book without grasping the significant, tragic impact of influenza on U.S. troops in WWI, and how difficult that impact was for the nation's citizens to bear." --"Boulder Daily Camera"

The influenza epidemic of 1918 killed more people in one year than the Great War killed in four, sickening at least one quarter of the world's population. In "Fever of War," Carol R. Byerly uncovers the startling impact of the 1918 influenza epidemic on the American army, its medical officers, and their profession, a story which has long been silenced. Through medical officers' memoirs and diaries, official reports, scientific articles, and other original sources, Byerly tells a grave tale about the limits of modern medicine and warfare.

The tragedy begins with overly confident medical officers who, armed with new knowledge and technologies of modern medicine, had an inflated sense of their ability to control disease. The conditions of trench warfare on the Western Front soon outflanked medical knowledge by creating an environment where the influenza virus could mutate to a lethal strain. This new flu virus soon left medical officers' confidence in tatters as thousands of soldiers and trainees died under their care. They also were unable to convince the War Department to reduce the crowding of troops aboard ships and in barracks which were providing ideal environments for the epidemic to thrive.After the war, and given their helplessness to control influenza, many medical officers and military leaders began to downplay the epidemic as a significant event for the U. S. army, in effect erasing this dramatic story from the American historical memory.

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