Alfred W. Crosby will be visiting the campus of Washington State University on October 16, 2007. Crosby is the author of America's Forgotten Pandemic:The Influenza of 1918.
Do you have questions you'd like to ask the author? Post your questions in the comments section and they will be forwarded to the author before his talk.
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10 comments:
Dr. Crosby, do you feel that a pandemic that occurred today would be "forgotten" in the same way it was in 1918? How do our current modes of communication, from cable networks, websites and blogs, figure into the prediction? What trends do we observe with events of similar magnitude, such as genocide in Darfur?
Dr. Crosby, in all your research you have done, is there a particular case you found to be the most fascinating? A family members story, or an investigation relating to the flu that moved you in some way?
What do you think it was about the 1918 flu that made it so painful that people would want to forget about it?
Accounts of painful history are forgotten between generations because those who suffered it are reluctant to speak about it. If this is true, why was the 1918 flu pandemic forgotten when the holocaust was not?
It seems like the 1918 flu pandemic was one of the only large disasters that people were so reluctant to talk about or record. . .I'm not an expert on supressed history, but are there any other factors (aside from it being painful to the people who were involved) which would contribute to this pandemic being so underpublicized?
Dr. Crosby, do you believe those exposed to the 1918 flu realized the true magnitude of the pandemic at the time? Could it have possibly been downplayed because of the war or poor national/global communication?
Dr Crosby. I am interested in you commenting on 'being a historian,' as opposed to being a student taught history.
Specifically, can you comment on how you 'attend to' history as a professional. A specific example would be your attention to actuarial data that led you to notice an anomaly and turn that observation into a line of research.
How would you advise students in your audience at WSU to learn 'attend to' their chosen areas of study so that they might move from novice to professional? What are habits of mind would you recommend we develop? What other actions should we take?
Alfred Crosby addressed the WSU community 10/16 and I found it most engaging. In less than an hour, he reviewed the relationship of microbes and humans, as both have changed dramatically. He did a great job of showing how this relationship continues to evolve.
I found his point that hunter-gatherers had better overall health than early agricultural communities of interest, as I would think there would be risks for both groups. Hunters could eat infected animals or get infected during the chase to contract a disease.
Ultimately, I found the evening a great success for the assembled crowd, including those in the overflow room watching on video. Thanks to the Common Reading Program as well as Dr. Crosby.
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