Read and Yak on September 27: The Great Influenza

Does your family have stories from the 1918 flu pandemic? Do you find yourself comparing them with the Covid-19 experience of 2020? If so, this month’s Read & Yak discussion will be especially engaging.

During September, we are reading John M. Barry’s The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History. The Chicago Tribune praised it as “not just a masterful narrative of the events of 1918 but also an authoritative and disturbing morality tale of science, politics, and cultures.” The Charlotte Observer called it “a fascinating and frightening account of sickness, fear, stupidity, scientific exploration, and occasional heroism.”

Be sure to look for the most recent edition that includes a new afterword written in January 2021 in which Barry reflects on lessons from both 1918 and the Covid-19 pandemic.

This is one of our longest selections yet—over 500 pages (or 19 hours on audiobook)—so don’t wait to dive in!

Read & Yak meets on the fourth Saturday of each month, from 12:00p to 1:30p in the Activities Room, with a Zoom option for those joining online. Feel free to bring your lunch while we yak about what we’ve read.

Bring your lunch and join us in person or in the Activities Room or via Zoom. Click here to join the Zoom discussion. Meeting ID: 822 7558 0676 Passcode: 844657

Upcoming Reads:

📖 October 5: The Martian, by Andy Weir (Science Fiction)

📖 November 22: Anne of Green Gables, by Lucy Montgomery (Classic)