Gina Bari Kolata - Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus That Caused It

Pros: Well-written, newspaper reporter's style
Cons: Too many irrelevant details on the search for the virus

With the national discussion focusing on bioterrorism and with a lot of "what if" scenarios floating both through the news and my mind, ("what if" a 'smallpox martyr' began coughing his way through busy airports or malls?"), I began looking for a book...

Pros: Provocative, disturbing, clear, based on interviews, a tribute and call to action
Cons: The story is not over--the threat remains!

This book does inestimable service by enhancing public awareness of the critical problem with influenza—not only that in 1918 a killer strain of the common disease swept around the world and that such an event might just happen again, but also that a...