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John Barry, whose seminal work The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Greatest Plague in History has probably done more to spark pandemic awareness around the world than anything else, speaks today at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology about the swine flu pandemic of 2009.
Boston.com has a brief interview with Barry today, where he discusses the differences between the 1918 and the 2009 pandemics.
The ‘Great flu’ vs. today’s
John Barry on swine flu: “This is clearly a serious disease, even though the death total ... does not look like it will approach the enormous numbers people have been afraid of.’’ (Chris Greenberg/Getty Images/File 2005)
October 5, 2009
Until John Barry’s spellbinding tome emerged in 2004, the influenza pandemic of 1918 was largely a footnote in the annals of sprawling human tragedies. Which, in retrospect, is hard to believe. The viral tsunami that swept the planet killed at least 50 million and, potentially, twice that. Other books had chronicled the crisis, but it was Barry’s, “The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History,’’ that resonated most with readers and policy makers. Now, Barry is living through the swine flu pandemic of 2009, which he will discuss today at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (The 2 p.m. event is open to the public in the EG&G Education Center, 50 Vassar St., Cambridge, in Grier Room B.) We spoke with Barry by phone.
STEPHEN SMITH
Q. What’s similar and what’s different about the two pandemics?
For more conversations with John Barry, you can download a recent interview he gave to Sharon Sanders of FluTrackers from the Radio Sandy Springs Infectious Disease Show archive.
08/10/09 Guest Author John Barry
Sharon Sanders interviews Author John Barry
You’ll also find an hour-long conversation with John Barry, speaking at MIT in October of 2007, on the MIT World Website.
