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The last plague : Spanish influenza and the politics of public health in Canada

Title
The last plague : Spanish influenza and the politics of public health in Canada / Mark Osborne Humphries.
Author
Humphries, Mark Osborne, 1981-
Publication
Toronto ; Buffalo : University of Toronto Press, 2013.

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Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schwarzman Building to submit a request in person.

TextUse in library JFE 15-7448Schwarzman Building - Main Reading Room 315

Details

Description
xii, 323 pages, [12] pages of plates : illustrations, portraits; 23 cm
Summary
  • "The 'Spanish' influenza of 1918 was the deadliest pandemic in history, killing as many as 50 million people worldwide. Canadian federal public health officials tried to prevent the disease from entering the country by implementing a maritime quarantine, as had been their standard practice since the cholera epidemics of 1832. But the 1918 flu was a different type of disease. In spite of the best efforts of both federal and local officials, up to fifty thousand Canadians died.
  • In The Last Plague, Mark Osborne Humphries examines how federal epidemic disease management strategies developed before the First World War, arguing that the deadliest epidemic in Canadian history ultimately challenged traditional ideas about disease and public health governance. Using federal, provincial, and municipal archival sources, newspapers, and newly discovered military records - as well as original epidemiological studies - Humphries' sweeping national study situates the flu within a larger social, political, and military context for the first time. His provocative conclusion is that the 1918 flu crisis had important long-term consequences at the national level, ushering in the 'modern' era of public health in Canada."--Publisher's description..
Alternative Title
Spanish influenza and the politics of public health in Canada
Subjects
Genre/Form
Geschiedenis (vorm)
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references (pages 267-306) and index.
Contents
I. Introduction -- II. Establishing the Grand Watch : Epidemics and Public Health, 1832-1883 -- III. 'Everybody's Business is Nobody's Business' : Sanitary Science, Social Reform, and Mentalities of Public Health, 1867-1914 -- IV. A Pandemic Prelude : The 1889-90 Influenza Pandemic in Canada -- V. Happily Rare of Complications : The Flu's First Wave in Canada and the Official Response -- VI. A Dark and Invisible Fog Descends : The Second Wave of Flu and the Federal Response -- VII. 'A Terrible Fall for Preventative Medicine' : Provincial and Municipal Responses to the Second Wave of Flu -- VIII. The Trail of Infected Armies : War, the Flu, and the Popular Response -- IX. 'The Nation's Duty' : Creating a Federal Department of Health -- X. 'Success is somewhere Around the Corner' : The Changing Federal Role in Public Health -- XI. Conclusion -- XII. Bibliography of Sources Consulted.
Call Number
JFE 15-7448
ISBN
  • 9781442641112
  • 1442641118
  • 9781442610446
  • 1442610441
LCCN
2013427180
OCLC
784293147
Author
Humphries, Mark Osborne, 1981-
Title
The last plague : Spanish influenza and the politics of public health in Canada / Mark Osborne Humphries.
Imprint
Toronto ; Buffalo : University of Toronto Press, 2013.
Type of Content
text
still image
Type of Medium
unmediated
Type of Carrier
volume
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 267-306) and index.
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Research Call Number
JFE 15-7448
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