New Book: Modern Flu: British Medical Science and the Viralisation of Influenza, 1890-1940 (Palgrave, 2023)

Ninety years after the discovery of human influenza virus, Michael Bresalier’s new book, Modern Flu traces the history of this breakthrough and its implications for understanding and controlling influenza ever since. Examining how influenza came to be defined as a viral disease in the first half of the twentieth century, it argues that influenza’s viral identity did not … Read more

Learning to Live with Covid-19: Perspectives from Past Pandemics

Recently, Dr. Michael Bresalier gave two public lectures from a project he’s developing on “Learning to Live with Covid-19: Historical perspectives on how humanity adapts to epidemics”.   The first lecture, “Learning to Live with Covid-19: What can the history of influenza teach us?”, was part of the Hay Festival’s lunchtime talk series. It addressed a … Read more