Special Features
- General Article: The First Wave
- Bonus Video: Author Interview: Dr. Alfred Crosby
- General Article: City Snapshots: San Francisco
- General Article: City Snapshots: Boston
- Interview: Jeffrey Taubenberger
- Bonus Video: Original Interview: Dr. Shirley Fannin
The worst epidemic in American history killed over 600,000 Americans during World War I. Nicknamed "Spanish influenza," it died out quickly the following winter.
My American Experience
Share Your Story
Tell us what you think of the flu — do you think there is a significant threat of a major outbreak today like there was in 1918?
The Great Fever
Major Walter Reed's discovery in 1900 that mosquitoes spread yellow fever halted an outbreak and led to the disease's eventual eradication.
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Big Dream, Small Screen
A Utah farm boy builds a prototype for a television, but is thwarted by movie studio executives wanting to control the technology.
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Transcontinental Railroad
The remarkable story of how a railroad was built connecting California to the East.
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Test Tube Babies
The effort of pioneering researchers to conceive babies through in vitro fertilization.
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The Wright Stuff
Brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright built a flying machine that made its first flight in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in 1903.
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Radio Bikini
While the U.N. debated strategies for control of atomic energy, the U.S. Navy was preparing for nuclear tests on Bikini Island.
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The Polio Crusade
The story of the polio crusade pays tribute to a time when Americans banded together to conquer a terrible disease.
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Alone on the Ice
In 1934, American polar explorer Richard Byrd became the first to experience winter in Antarctica's interior.
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