With the emergency phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in the rearview mirror, at least for now, we look back on a handful of stories that provided sharp insights at key moments in the pandemic.
Academic rigor, journalistic flair
Articles on 1918 flu pandemic
Displaying 1 - 20 of 40 articles
During the 1918 flu pandemic, white people died at similar rates to Black Americans, according to a new study – a very different pattern than what occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A scholar of ancient Greek literature goes back to the account of Greek historian Thucydides on the spread of plague and finds parallels in the American response to the health crisis today.
None of our authors can see the future, but many do have expertise that offers insights about what’s reasonable to expect.
How the pandemic is reported by the media can influence people’s behaviour.
Accounts of previous epidemics – by Samuel Pepys, Daniel Defoe and Katherine Porter – warn of mistakes that we risk repeating.
A century ago, the end of the 1918 flu pandemic was followed by a period of prosperity, cultural flourishing and social change known as the Roaring ‘20s. Will the end of COVID-19 launch a similar era?
Americans were tired of social distancing and mask-wearing. At the first hint the virus was receding, people pushed to get life back to normal. Unfortunately another surge of the disease followed.
After recent suspected COVID-19 cases and with repatriation flights postponed, Samoa takes no chances.
This isn’t the first time America’s schoolchildren have studied remotely – and Chicago’s 1937 ‘radio school’ experiment shows how technology can fill the gap during a crisis.
The radical hope we find in the arts, culture and literature is often a reflection of the times. Drawing from the past there are many examples of how dreams can become a form of resilience.
Narratives throughout history illustrate how pandemics make people grapple with their faith, leading them to deepen religious beliefs or reject them altogether.
As the US battled the 1918 influenza pandemic, some communities staged contentious battles against wearing masks. Sound familiar?
It’s always dangerous to put present-day events into historic perspectives. That’s especially true when political leaders have compared the coronavirus pandemic to a war effort.
There’s no scientific definition for a wave of disease – and no evidence that the original onslaught of coronavirus in the US has receded much at all.
How politicians and the public in Denver, Colorado handled the 1918 flu epidemic is relevant to today.
The recent spike in new coronavirus cases in the US is not due to a second wave, but simply the virus moving into new populations or surging in places that opened up too soon.
Pandemic histories are useful for understanding COVID-19, but how they connect with race, public health, revolution, labour and colonialism are needed to explain the present and predict the future.
A century ago, the influenza pandemic killed about 50 million people. Today we are battling the coronavirus pandemic. Are we any better off? Two social scientists share five reasons we have to be optimistic.
PODCAST: The third part of a series from The Anthill Podcast on how the world recovered from major crises throughout history focuses on the recovery after 1918.
Top contributors
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Assistant Director of the Center for the History of Medicine, University of Michigan
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Assistant Professor of History, University of Pittsburgh
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Pediatric Infectious Diseases Fellow, University of Pittsburgh
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Chancellor's Professor of Medicine, Liberal Arts, and Philanthropy, Indiana University
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Associate Professor of History, Rutgers University - Newark
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Senior Lecturer in Economics, Queen's University Belfast
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Australian Research Council Future Fellow, Archaeology, School of Social Science, The University of Queensland
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Professor of Film Studies, Bangor University
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Professor of Economics, University of Essex
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Professor of Public Health, University of Otago
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Professor of Archaeology, Durham University
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Professor of Public Health, University of Otago
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Professor of Linguistics, Bangor University
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Assistant Professor of Medicine, Columbia University
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Associate Professor of Health History, Glasgow Caledonian University
