On a global, multidisciplinary scale, the book applies the insights of social and medical sciences to an investigation of the pandemic, covering include the historiography, virology, demographic and its long-term effects.

Introduction, Howard Phillips, David Killingray; Part 1 Part I Virological and pathological perspectives; Chapter 1 A virologist's perspective on the 1918-19 pandemic, Edwin D. Kilbourne; Chapter 2 Genetic characterisation of the 1918 'Spanish' influenza virus, Jeffery K. Taubenberger; Part II Part II Contemporary medical and nursing perspectives; Chapter 3 The plague that was not allowed to happen, Wilfried Witte; Chapter 4 'You can't do anything for influenza', Nancy K. Bristow; Part III Part III Official responses to the pandemic; Chapter 5 Japan and New Zealand in the 1918 influenza pandemic, Geoffrey W. Rice; Chapter 6 Coping with the influenza pandemic, Mridula Ramanna; Part 4 Part IV The demographic impact; Chapter 7 Spanish influenza in China, 1918-20, Wataru Iijima; Chapter 8 Flu downunder, Kevin McCracken, Peter Curson; Chapter 9 The overshadowed killer, N.P.A.S. Johnson; Chapter 10 Death in winter, D. Ann Herring, Lisa Sattenspiel; Chapter 11 Spanish influenza seen from Spain, Beatriz Echeverri; Chapter 12 A holocaust in a holocaust, Patrick Zylberman; Chapter 13 Long-term effects of the 1918 'Spanish' influenza epidemic on sex differentials of mortality in the USA, Andrew Noymer, Michel Garenne; Part 5 Part V Long-term consequences and memories; Chapter 14 'A fierce hunger', James G. Ellison; Chapter 15 'The dog that did not bark', Myron Echenberg; Part 6 Part VI Epidemiological lessons of the pandemic; Chapter 16 Transmission of, and protection against, influenza, Stephen C. Schoenbaum; Notes; Bibliography, Jürgen Müller; Index;