Structure

Barry uses Lewis, a scientist enlisted by the navy to help find a cure or vaccine for the flu, to bookend his story. He features Lewis in the “Prologue” as one of the warriors who helped to fight against the flu pandemic. Lewis is mentioned through the course of the novel as one of the major scientists and doctors who tried to convince political figures to better protect the people from the coming disease. Barry ends his story with information about Lewis’ death from yellow fever. Because Lewis was not able to find the breakthrough for which he was hoping in regard to the flu, Barry considers Lewis “the last victim of the 1918 pandemic” (448).

Barry tells the story of the 1918 pandemic beginning in the time of Hippocrates in order to describe how subpar the American medical system was, even as late as the 19th century and early...