Synopses & Reviews
"
Fever of War adds an important dimension to knowled of the influenza pandemic of 1918-1919."
David Killingray, Goldsmiths College, University of London
Fever of War is well written, meticulously researched, and poses much food for thought."
&$151;On Point
"Prof. Byerly's superb research and writing bring to life an event that held the world in its terrible grasp for more than a year. Compelling and enlightening, Fever of War is well worth the reading."
Armchair General Magazine
"This is a well-written, well-researched book that generally statys tightly on topic"H-War
"Byerly's book provides a wealth of fascinating detail. Everyone with an interest in the 1918-19 pandemic will profit from reading it"Journal of the History of Medicine
"A significant contribution to both military, social, and medical history. . . . Fills a void and provides a valuable corrective to a literature that ignored the role of the army in creating conditions that maximized mortality, glorified the role of the military, and provided explanations that shifted responsibility to individual and racial susceptibilities."
American Historical Review
"In this lucid, well-focused book, Byerly (Univ. of Colorado) examines the 1918 influenza pandemic as experienced by the American Expeditionary Force. In writing this important analysis, Byerly joins scholars such as Alfred Crosby, whose classic study America's Forgotten Pandemic: The Influenza of 1918 remains the benchmark, and John Barry, whose The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History focuses on the role of public health. Byerly's prose is exceptionally clear and elegant. Highly recommended."
Choice
" Fever of War is handsome, readable, and extensively researched."
JAMA
"In this era of threats of anthrax, smallpox, SARS, and bird flue, are we any less assured of our ability to conquer disease than the generation of 1918? Perhaps Byerly's account of the great influenza epidemic is a clarion call to wake us from our own hubris."
Military Review
"Byerly's book provides a wealth of fascinating detail. Everyone with an interest in the 1918 & 19 pandemic will profit from reading it."
Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences
"àa significant contribution to both military, social, and medical historyà.fills a void and provides a valuable corrective to a literature that ignored the role of the army in creating conditions that maximized mortality, glorified the role of the military, and provided explanations that shifted responsibility to individual and racial susceptibilities."American Historical Review
"Fever of War is an outstanding addition to the literature on U.S. participation in World War I . . . based on exhaustive research and thorough engagement with the published scholarship in medical, military, and social history. An important book whose fluently written exposition is well balanced between rigorous analysis and sensitive attention to the human beings--doctors and victims alike--who worked and suffered through the pandemic."
Robert H. Zieger, author of America's Great War: The American Experience in World War I
"Fever of War is handsome, readable, and extensively researched...It is a well-priced and wonderful addition to the historical literature and highly recommended to anyone with an interest in the influenza pandemic of 1918-1919."
Burke A. Cunha, MD, The Journal of the American Medical Association"Fever of War makes a powerful argument. One cannot walk away from the book without grasping the significant, tragic impact of influenza on U.S. troops in WWI, and how difficult that impact was for the nation's citizens to bear." Boulder Daily Camera
The influenza epidemic of 1918 killed more people in one year than the Great War killed in four, sickening at least one quarter of the world's population. In Fever of War, Carol R. Byerly uncovers the startling impact of the 1918 influenza epidemic on the American army, its medical officers, and their profession, a story which has long been silenced. Through medical officers' memoirs and diaries, official reports, scientific articles, and other original sources, Byerly tells a grave tale about the limits of modern medicine and warfare.
The tragedy begins with overly confident medical officers who, armed with new knowledge and technologies of modern medicine, had an inflated sense of their ability to control disease. The conditions of trench warfare on the Western Front soon outflanked medical knowledge by creating an environment where the influenza virus could mutate to a lethal strain. This new flu virus soon left medical officers' confidence in tatters as thousands of soldiers and trainees died under their care. They also were unable to convince the War Department to reduce the crowding of troops aboard ships and in barracks which were providing ideal environments for the epidemic to thrive. After the war, and given their helplessness to control influenza, many medical officers and military leaders began to downplay the epidemic as a significant event for the U. S. army, in effect erasing this dramatic story from the American historical memory.
Review
“It is a must read for anyone interested in military or health care history.” - Nursing History Review
Review
<>Fever of War is well written, meticulously researched, and poses much food for thought.” - On Point
Review
“Fever of War adds an important dimension to knowled of the influenza pandemic of 1918-1919.”
- David Killingray, Goldsmiths College, University of London
“It is a must read for anyone interested in military or health care history.”
- Nursing History Review <>Fever of War is well written, meticulously researched, and poses much food for thought.”
- On Point
Review
“Sin No More is superbly written, moving across each topic with freshness and sensitivity.”
-Jonathan Simon,author of Governing through Crime: How the War on Crime Transformed American Democracy and Created a Culture of Fear
Review
“In this elegant and nuanced account, Dombrink and Hillyard explore how the depth of America's commitment to liberty and individualism has co-existed oddly with the forceful anti-libertarianism of the religious right. Their analysis of the bedrock values that America cares most about has important implications beyond the specific issues the authors address, making this an important resource for anyone wishing to understand the evolution of the national conscience, and its influence upon law and politics.”
-Roger Magnusson,author of Angels of Death: Exploring the Euthanasia Underground
Review
“Sin No More represents a brilliant interweaving of the complexities of economic interests, public opinion, court and legislative action. The authors demonstrate the impact of these forces in understanding the recent normalization of gambling and the steady progress in gay rights. They show there are also early signs of achieving death with dignity and freedom for stem cell research, but access to abortion is increasingly in jeopardy. This book is sure to have a major impact on debate, research and policy in these areas.”
-John F. Galliher,co-author of The Criminology of Edwin Sutherland
Review
“Despite the intense culture wars and the ascendancy of religious and cultural conservatism over the past forty years, Dombrink and Hillyard demonstrate that there has also been a marked increase in tolerance for behavior long thought to be immoral. The process of change has been uneven and episodic, a process the authors term ‘problematic normalization. But there has been substantial change. The authors' findings are counter-intuitive. But they are convincing. This is an important book, and it should find a wide audience.”
-Malcolm M. Feeley,co-author of Judicial Policy Making and the Modern State
Review
“Worthwhile for the careful, nuanced studies of specific questions that continue to define contemporary US life.”
-Choice,
Synopsis
Fever of War examines the impact of the deadly 1918 influenza epidemic on the Ammrican army, its medical officers, and their profession. The targedy begins with overly confident medical officers whose inflated sense of their ability to prevent disease caused them to undermine the severity of the epidemic. The realities of the flu soon left officers' confidence in latters as their efforts to prevent the flu proved ineffective. At the same time, military leaders abandoned precautionary measures such as isolation and bed rest for affflicted soldiers. In their efforts to get men to the battlefield as quickly as possible, the Army packed as many bodies as possible onto transport ships and squeezed them into already overcrowded barracks, creating the perfect environment for the epidemic to thrive. Aware of their failure to win the fight against influenza, medical officers and militry leaders made little effort to include this particular story of the epidemic in both Army records and in medical reports on the epidemic.
Synopsis
It was World War I that made the great flu epidemic what it was, and Fever of War puts this fatal encounter at central stage. With the advantage of hindsight, one cant help wondering why someone did not write this book sooner. Indeed, one of Byerlys signal contributions is explaining how and why our memory of the great influenza epidemic was snuffed out. -Elizabeth Fenn, author of Pox Americana: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 177582 Fever of War examines the impact of the deadly 1918 influenza epidemic on the American army, its medical officers, and their profession. The tragedy begins with overly confident medical officers whose inflated sense of their ability to prevent disease caused them to undermine the severity of the epidemic. The realities of the flu soon left officers confidence in tatters as their efforts to prevent the flu proved ineffective. At the same time, military leaders abandoned precautionary measures such as isolation and bed rest for afflicted soldiers. In their efforts to get men to the battlefield as quickly as possible, the Army packed as many bodies as possible onto transport ships and squeezed them into already overcrowded barracks, creating the perfect environment for the epidemic to thrive. Aware of their failure to win the fight against influenza, medical officers and military leaders made little effort to include this particular story of the epidemic in both Army records and in medical reports on the epidemic.
Synopsis
The influenza epidemic of 1918 killed more people in one year than the Great War killed in four, sickening at least one quarter of the world's population. In
Fever of War, Carol R. Byerly uncovers the startling impact of the 1918 influenza epidemic on the American army, its medical officers, and their profession, a story which has long been silenced. Through medical officers' memoirs and diaries, official reports, scientific articles, and other original sources, Byerly tells a grave tale about the limits of modern medicine and warfare.
The tragedy begins with overly confident medical officers who, armed with new knowledge and technologies of modern medicine, had an inflated sense of their ability to control disease. The conditions of trench warfare on the Western Front soon outflanked medical knowledge by creating an environment where the influenza virus could mutate to a lethal strain. This new flu virus soon left medical officers confidence in tatters as thousands of soldiers and trainees died under their care. They also were unable to convince the War Department to reduce the crowding of troops aboard ships and in barracks which were providing ideal environments for the epidemic to thrive. After the war, and given their helplessness to control influenza, many medical officers and military leaders began to downplay the epidemic as a significant event for the U. S. army, in effect erasing this dramatic story from the American historical memory.
Synopsis
Read the Authors' Op-Ed on the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Sin No More offers a vivid examination of some of the most morally and politically disputed issues of our time: abortion, gay rights, assisted suicide, stem cell research, and legalized gambling. These are moral values issues, all of which are hotly, sometimes violently, contested in America. The authors cover these issues in depth, looking at the nature of efforts to initiate reforms, to define constituencies, to mobilize resources, to frame debates, and to shape public opinion—all in an effort to achieve social change, create, or re-write legislation. Of the issues under scrutiny only legalized gambling has managed to achieve widespread acceptance despite moral qualms from some.
Sin No More seeks to show what these laws and attitudes tell us about Americans' approach to law and morality, and about our changing conceptions of sin, crime and illegality. Running through each chapter is a central tension: that American attitudes and laws toward these victimless crimes are going through a process of normalization. Despite conservative rhetoric the authors argue that the tide is turning on each of these issues, with all moving toward acceptance, or decriminalization, in society. Each issue is at a different point in terms of this acceptance, and each has traveled different roads to achieve their current status.
About the Author
John Dombrink is Professor of Criminology, Law and Society at the University of California, Irvine.The co-authors of
Dying Right: The Death With Dignity Movement. Daniel Hillyard is Assistant Professor of Law and Society at Southern Illinois University. The co-authors of Dying Right: The Death With Dignity Movement.