History

What The 1918 Flu Pandemic Can Tell Us About The COVID-19 Crisis

2:06pm May 14, 2020

by Terry Gross

John Barry, author of the 2004 book, The Great Influenza, draws parallels between today's pandemic and the flu of 1918. In both cases, he says, "the outbreak was trivialized for a long time."

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Ina Pinkney in 1948 after undergoing her first corrective surgery.

'There Was So Little Information': Polio Survivors Offer Pandemic Perspective

8:13pm May 12, 2020

by Apoorva Mittal

The children and preteens of the U.S. polio epidemic of the 1940s and '50s are once again in a high-risk group, this time for coronavirus. They recall their experiences and the parallels to today.

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Molly Webster speaks from the TED stage at TED@NAS, a 2019 TED-curated event, organzied in partnership with The Kavli Foundation, the Simons Foundation and the National Academy of Sciences.

Molly Webster: Is Our Definition Of "Sex Chromosomes" Too Narrow?

9:14am May 08, 2020

by NPR/TED STAFF

Over a century ago, one part of our DNA got labelled the "sex chromosomes." Science and radio journalist Molly Webster explains the consequences of that oversimplification.

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Kay Oxendine of the Haliwa Saponi Tribe in North Carolina, was set to serve as the first woman to emcee of the tribe's annual powwow — until the event was canceled amid the coronavirus pandemic.

How A Virtual Powwow Helped Heal A Spirit Broken During The Pandemic

5:24am May 08, 2020

Kay Oxendine of the Haliwa Saponi Tribe in North Carolina, was set to serve as the first woman to emcee of the tribe's annual powwow — until the event was canceled amid the coronavirus pandemic.

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An illustration showing patients being brought to the hospital during Hamburg's 1892 cholera outbreak.

What Hamburg's Missteps In 1892 Cholera Outbreak Can Teach Us About COVID-19 Response

11:03am May 06, 2020

by Rob Schmitz

Lesson No. 1: Have "proper precautions in place," says historian Richard Evans. And don't "try to hush it up." Thousands died in Hamburg after the government failed to acknowledge a cholera outbreak.

Image of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

In Thriller Form, 'The Lincoln Conspiracy' Details Early Plot To Kill The President

5:37pm May 05, 2020

by Michael Schaub

Authors Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch prove gifted at providing essential context, including deftly painting a picture of 19th-century America and the prevailing attitudes toward race and politics.

Looking Back On Kent State University Shooting 5 Decades Ago

7:03am May 04, 2020

by Jeff St. Clair

Fifty years ago, National Guard troops opened fire on protesting students at Kent State University killing four and wounding nine — changing the perception of the Vietnam War in the U.S.

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Health & Safety

The Great Influenza: Lessons To Learn From The Spanish Flu

8:34am April 30, 2020

John Barry, the author of The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History, talks about the lessons we can learn from the 1918 Spanish Flu and answers listener questions.

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Pandemics like the coronavirus "serve like looking glasses" that reflect society's vulnerabilities, author and Yale medical historian Frank Snowden says.

Medical Historian Says Pandemics Are 'Looking Glasses' For Societies

5:07pm April 29, 2020

by Steve Inskeep

Frank Snowden, author of the book, Epidemics and Society: From the Black Death to the Present, describes how pandemics stretching back centuries and our responses to them have shaped history.

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The U.S. death toll from COVID-19 hit a new milestone, surpassing the number of Americans who died in the prolonged conflict with Vietnam. Here, the Elmhurst Hospital Center in Queens, N.Y., holds a vigil for medical workers and patients who have died in

Coronavirus Has Now Killed More Americans Than Vietnam War

8:29pm April 28, 2020

by David Welna

The number of lives taken by COVID-19 in the U.S. has reached a grim milestone: More people have died of the disease than the 58,220 Americans who perished in the Vietnam War.