‘1918: The Forgotten Year of Death’
— Reneé Bibby
Go for a walk in your old local cemetery, read the tombstones, look for dates in 1918. You might find whole families who died within days, or maybe one big monument for a large field of grass, under which hundreds were interred when there was no time for individual headstones.
Go back to a particularly dark time in the world—the superpowers are embroiled in WWI, and dense urban cities burst like boils with a highly-contagious strain of influenza, spreading sickness via the newly built shipping routes and railroads. The Spanish Influenza decimates the world, scything down healthy adults as easily as the vulnerable.
Allison C. Meier’s ‘1918: The Forgotten Year of Death’ is the perfect blend of morbid, historical, and insightful, easing you into one of the deadliest pandemics of modern history. Meier’s article appears in the equally fascinating The Order of the Good Death, an online platform that seeks to build a “culture with a more open, honest engagement with death.” Dip your toe into this movement with Meier’s piece. Using art, historical photos, quotes, links to primary and secondary sources, and just the right amount of lyricism, her article is the pinnacle of accessible and engaging non-fiction about death.