With a death toll of between 50 and 100 million people the Spanish flu of 1918-1920 was possibly the greatest human disaster in recorded history. And yet, in our popular conception it exists largely as a footnote to World War I. Drawing on the latest research in history, virology, psychology, and economics, Laura Spinney shows how this catastrophe changed humanity for decades to come and how significant it was in shaping the modern world. A truly global story, taking the reader from Rio de Janeiro to Odessa, and from China to Alaska.