In a Time of Plague. Memories of the ‘Spanish’ Flu Epidemic of 1918 In South Africa
The so-called 'Spanish' influenza epidemic of 1918 (tellingly dubbed 'Black October' by contemporaries in South Africa) was the worst disease episode ever to hit the country. Part of a global pandemic which killed about 3% of the world's inhabitants in little over a year, in hard-hit South Africa it claimed some 350,000 lives (or 5% of the population) in six weeks in September-October of 1918. During those dreadful weeks the country struggled to keep functioning in the face of this debilitating disease and consequent deaths. This volume graphically captures this short but unprecedented crisis in South Africa's history through the memories of 127 survivors of the epidemic. As one survivor put it, 'That's worse than a war'.