In the latest Back in the Stacks blog, Library Specialist Jan Hardy reviews "Pale Rider: the Spanish Flu of 1918 and How It Changed the World" by Laura Spinney.
"So much of Pale Rider resonates with our current Corona virus experience, including the social distancing practices and quarantines, the use of face masks, and controversies over closing schools and businesses. Spinney shows the epidemic’s influence not only on medicine, but on the global economy, on the arts, on family law providing for adoption for millions of “flu orphans.” She wonders about future epidemics, and how to win compliance with prohibitions and closures, issues we see in the news today. I’m betting that if more people read books such as Pale Rider, we would see more understanding and patience for what we’re enduring under the Corona virus pandemic."