Click here to buy "The Great Influenza: The story of the deadliest pandemic in history" on Amazon

I copied this gentleman's review because it said everything I felt about it. It really did go into the history of physicians and I was surprised about the government's involvement with the media:

In researching the pandemics related to bird flu that have happened in the past, we came across John Barry’s book, The Great Influenza, which chronicles the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918. Actually, that’s really not all it details; we discovered more about the history of physicians and how they came to be in this country than we ever knew, the government’s response and control of the media during the height of the pandemic, and how the development of medical research institutions like John Hopkins came to be.

Surprising us most was the absolute control of the media attempted by the then Wilson administration, with emphasis on a link to patriotism in lieu of World War I. Fear was rampant, and Wilson sought to control that to help with the perception of the war, and to force people to accept and support it. For example, to publically critique the Federal government about anything including the pandemic the government refused to acknowledge existed, either verbally or in print, was punishable by a charge of treason. Wilson established a press group of sorts to reach out, in effect controlling public opinion and spew the government’s message at the beginning of most forms of entertainment: picture shows, vaudeville, sporting events. Relate that almost unprecedented effort then to the now scores of media and press covering the current initial response to Katrina, bloggers like us who postulated our opinions about it, and other editorials and public scrutiny about FEMA, the Louisiana Governor, etc…well, if we were to have done so in 1918 we’d have been charged traitors and jailed for treason.

The books reads almost a like a historical mystery novel in some respects, since one must recall that the practice of medicine really was in the formulative stages during that time. Medical researchers weren’t common then, and in fact many of the basis of laboratory research in the field of epidemiology in this country occurred as a result of the efforts to find out exactly what the influenza was and why. Littered in the mix are some pretty harrowing descriptions regarding the disposal of the many dead, both in Philadelphia (which was particularly hard hit) and Boston, as well particular accounts from survivors who had the disease and their experiences surviving it. It also takes a technical focus in describing the virus’ attack on the body and immune system’s response to it.

All in all, we recommend you read it - not to frighten yourselves, but to do your part in making sure those mistakes made then don’t happen again.

http://www.i66.com/index.php/2005/10/16/the-great-influenza-read-the-book/