The Worst Pandemic of the 20th Century

What can we learn from the "Spanish Flu" pandemic that claimed at least 50 million lives worldwide a century ago? Dr. Justin Olmstead, a professor of history at the University of Central Oklahoma and one of the leading historians of this time period, discusses the impact of this pandemic on American life and culture. We discuss the origins and various names given to this pandemic (3:15), its impact on the final stages of the First World War (20:30), and its wide-ranging effects on everyday life a century ago and how they compare with our own experiences with the Coronavirus in 2020 (49:30).

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