The 1918 Spanish Flu and why it still matters, with Laura Spinney

In conversation with Rachel Donadio 

The flu that swept the world from 1918 to 1920 killed as many as 100 million people, making it the greatest human disaster in recorded history. Laura Spinney, author of the best-selling nonfiction book Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How it Changed the World, will tell us about the pandemic and its long-lasting impact. Why was the flu so deadly? Which cities and countries did the best (and worst) jobs of handling it? Why is it remembered largely as a footnote to World War I? What was its geopolitical impact?

Laura Spinney's writing on science has appeared in The Guardian, The Economist, Nature, National Geographic and other publications. She's also the author of two novels, and of Rue Centrale, an oral history of Lausanne. She lives in Paris.

Rachel Donadio is a Paris-based journalist and contributing writer at The Atlantic, focusing on politics and culture across Europe.