The social and cultural responses to the influenza pandemic after World War I will be the focus of a lecture by Nancy Bristow, American history professor at the University of Puget Sound, Tuesday, May 14, at 7 p.m. in Jonasson Hall, lower level of Melrose Hall at Linfield College.
The presentation, “Remembering Catastrophe: The Lost Worlds of the 1918 Influenza Pandemic,” will address Bristow’s research on the different responses to the influenza and the factors that influenced them. She recently published a book on her study of the influenza pandemic, “American Pandemic: The Lost Worlds of the 1918 Influenza Pandemic.” In her book, Bristow provides a social and cultural analysis of the American response to the pandemic at the end of World War I. She presents a range of perspectives from flu patients and their families, to medical professionals and community leaders based on her extensive study of primary sources. Bristow is the great-granddaughter of two of the pandemic’s fatalities.
Bristow has held the position of Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Puget Sound since 2006. She has numerous teaching awards, including the Carnegie and CASE Washington State Professor of the Year in 2007. Her other publications include “Making Men Moral: Social Engineering During the Great War.” She earned her bachelor’s degree from Colorado College and her master’s and Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.
The lecture is free and open to the public. It is sponsored by PLACE and Linfield’s Health, Human Performance and Athletics Department. For more information, contact Sarah Coste, visiting assistant professor of health and human performance, at 503-883-2481 or scoste@linfield.edu.
