Special Features
- Further Reading: Related Books and Websites
- Biography: Victor Vaughan
- Interview: Jeffrey Taubenberger
- Interview: Alfred Crosby
- Primary Resources: A Letter From Camp Devins, MA
- Teacher's Resources: Teacher's Guide
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
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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?
Spy in the Sky
In 1960, Francis Gary Powers' U-2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union.
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Troublesome Creek: A Midwestern
A personal story of one family's dramatic effort to hold onto their family farm in Iowa as massive foreclosures sweep the nation in the 1990s.
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Meltdown at Three Mile Island
Equipment failure, human error and bad luck led to the country's worst nuclear accident in 1979.
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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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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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Test Tube Babies
The effort of pioneering researchers to conceive babies through in vitro fertilization.
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Partners of the Heart
At the height of segregation, an unlikely alliance between a black medical genius and a white surgeon led to a pioneering medical breakthrough.
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Transcontinental Railroad
The remarkable story of how a railroad was built connecting California to the East.
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