More Deadly Than War by Kenneth C. Davis

Title: More Deadly Than War: The Hidden History of the Spanish Flu and the First World War

Author: Kenneth C. Davis

Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. 2018

Genre: Nonfiction - History, Science

Pages: 304

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Nonfiction Reader; Winter TBR

Where I Got It: Library

2018 marked the 100th anniversary of the worst disease outbreak in modern times: the Spanish flu, a story even more relevant today. This dramatic narrative, told through the stories and voices of the people caught in the deadly maelstrom, explores how this vast, global epidemic was intertwined with the horrors of World War I―and how it could happen again.

Complete with photographs, period documents, modern research, and firsthand reports by medical professionals and survivors, More Deadly Than War provides captivating insight into a catastrophe that transformed America in the early twentieth century.

Arthur was covering World War I for history and I had an urge to read a Spanish Flu book to go along with. I grabbed this one at the library and it was okay. Even though this was listed in the adult section, it reads like a young adult nonfiction book. I found some of the passages to be elementary and repetitive. I fully admit that I know more than the average person when it comes to the Spanish Flu and WWI. This felt more like a primer on the subjects than a deep dive in epidemiology. I even skipped an entire chapter that was just covering the broad strokes of the war. The second half got a little more interesting with more first hand accounts of the epidemic. But it wasn’t enough to really save this one for me.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Don't Know Much About Mythology by Kenneth Davis

Title: Don't Know Much About Mythology

Author: Kenneth Davis

Publisher: HarperCollins 2005

Genre: History - Mythology

Pages: 545

Rating:  4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Nonfiction Adventure; ebook; 52 Books - W35; Dewey Decimal

Employing the popular Don't Know Much About® style, with its familiar question-and-answer format, DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT MYTHOLOGY will explore the myths of the world, their impact on history, and their continuing role in our lives. It will offer listeners a wide-ranging, comprehensive, entertaining and listenable survey of the great myths of world civilizations, how they came to be, what they meant to the people who created them, how they influenced society, literature and art through history, and how they still speak to us today. Mythology is alive today in our art, literature, theatre, dreams, psychology--and certainly our language. "Pandora's Box," "Golden Fleece," "Labor of Hercules," and "Wheel of Fortune" are just a few of the words and phrases that come from a world of mythology and still color our speech. Using humor, contemporary references, and anecdotal material from mythology, extensive research based on recent archaeology which often reveals the history behind mythology and surprising information that breaks down conventional wisdom, DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT MYTHOLOGY will ultimately be about stories--the great and timeless tales that have fascinated people around the planet for several millennia.

I love Davis' Don't Know Much series. In the past, I've particularly enjoyed volumes on U.S. History and the Civil War. This one was very enjoyable, if a bit broad for me. I found myself skimming through multiple chapters as I have studied those cultures and their mythology. This isn't to say that it's a great book. It is! Especially for someone not knowledgeable in mythology. I like Davis format of question and answer with a "who's who" for each culture/area. My favorite chapter was on the mythology from India. Fascinating!