There are many books that have been written about World War I, as well as the immediate post-war years with regards to the pandemic. To briefly discuss the pandemic, I will say that The Great Flu encompassed the entire globe in something like four months. That is extremely fast moving, but with the transport of military from many countries...not a shock. Over 650,000 people died from this flu in the United States alone. Prohibition is widely researched and discussed as well. I have not, as of yet, ran across very many books about the in-between period, which is why I have been so excited to get ahold of this book. This country was in the middle of some real turmoil, imagine that! There were many assaults against immigrants and minority groups. (Yes, including Jewish people.) White nationalism was exceptionally high, and proudly displayed. Anti-immigrant rhetoric and sentiment was also proudly displayed. The paranoia of the United States government was higher than it had been in some time, which trickled down into the masses and caused absolute chaos. This period was grim and miserable, and nothing about this made the United States look as good as people like to think it does. (Certainly, there are worse places to live with less freedom and rights, but to tout a country as ThE gReAtEsT when the house is never kept clean is a little bit ridiculous...)

It is striking how much of this book translates into the current climate in the United States. It really is true that history had a tendency to repeat itself, because people (in power) have no desire to learn from anything and educate themselves and the people that vote them in do not (often) care about their policies and simply vote based on political party. (If you follow me and my reviews, I am sure you know about my disdain for political parties, so don't act shocked that I said that.) This book has a pandemic (influenza), horrible actions against minority groups, immigration issues, government fanning the flames of unrest and hatred, and multiple issues with factual reporting and the banning of publications. If that doesn't seem familiar to you, especially if you are a citizen of the United States currently, you must live life with your eyeballs welded shut. It's wild to see so many of these issues going on 100 years ago and now seeing that we are essentially no better off.

As far as the book goes, it was very well researched. I have read another book by this author, which I very much enjoyed, and I am pleased to say that I was not let down at all by this new book. I have been wanting to read it for a while, and happened to see it on the library's newer released display. I snatched it up, along with another book I had been waiting to read. (The other book by this author is King Leopold's Ghost.) I appreciate the way he is able to dive into these topics in a way that is respectful of the people that were affected negatively, and still maintain and educational narrative that is gripping. I could hardly stand to put this down to do other things that I needed to do, because I was very engaged with it. This book is a giant, flashing red siren of warning about how events can devolve further, and I think it would benefit a lot of people if they would read this with some manner of basic comprehension. Highly recommend!