BYU Public Health

Are you interested in reading more about public health? Students ask us what books we recommend.

Here are two for starters:

Betrayal of Trust by Laurie Garrett

The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History by John Barry.

Ashley Suker, MPH Graduate Student, provides the following review of the Great Influenza.

The Great Influenza details the story of the 1918 influenza pandemic in the United States. The book begins with a detailed accounting of the restructuring of medical education in the United States, beginning with the founding of Johns Hopkins Medical School in the later part of the 19th century. The story follows the great public health and medical minds of the early 20th century as they work to understand and later beat the deadliest virus to hit America in known history. Barry intertwines the race for the cure with the political climate of the time, going so far as to suggest that mismanagement of government resources and personnel may have been part of the reason the disease was able to spread as rapidly and as far reaching as it did. Barry details the pandemic from its’ suspected initial outbreak in Camp Devans through the eventual resolution following the end of World War I. Barry’s writing style leads the book to be a quick and enjoyable read while at the same time incorporating public health education and knowledge in a manner that the lay person can understand. The book was intriguing and informative, while remaining neutral on a variety of hot button issues including government intervention, vaccinations, and education reform. Barry draws his readers in and helps them the understand the need for public health and health education among the American people.