The Last Town On Earth by Thomas Mullen

The Last Town On Earth

by

Thomas Mullen

In October of 1918 the Spanish Influenza epidemic killed many people and frightened the remainder of the population.  The Last Town On Earth explores the idea of  reverse isolation and is set in a town that decides to cut itself off from the rest of the country and try to prevent the flu from getting into their town.  The audio production of this book was excellent.  Henry Strozier was the narrator and he did a wonderful job.  I have listened to other books narrated by him and he did a great job with them too.  I chose this book because of the project I am working on about WWI who served in various capacities from the county where I grew up.  The short biographies I have completed can be found HERE.  In the future,  two of the women I will be writing about were sent to bases to help care for enlisted men who were victims of the flu.  I wanted to read/listen to this book to obtain a feeling for the era.  The Last Town On Earth by Thomas Mullen is an historical novel and therefore a work of fiction.  Nevertheless, from what I have read so far about the symptoms of Spanish Influenza, and the way it seemed to strike young adults more than the very young and elderly,  which is the way typical flu hits,  are described by Mullen spot on.   He also addresses other issues of the era such as the formation of unions along with the violence which accompanied the workers trying to organize.  Mullen's treatment of anti war sentiment along side patriotism is interesting.  He describes the horrifying treatment of conscientious objectors in Army camps.  This novel is not a "rah, rah, rah" of patriotism as it addresses some difficult views and opinions.  I really liked it but some readers may come away offended.  It was new information for me to read about the 4 Minute Men who jumped up to the front at the end of movies and provided positive propaganda about the war because there was so much anti war sentiment at the time.  We always think of anti war people during Vietnam but WWI was also unpopular in some groups.  More about the 4 Minute Men can be found HERE.   And I did not realize the term gold star came to refer to the soldiers that were killed overseas because of the fact that people displayed flags in their windows when their family member was overseas serving in the military and when there was a death the flag was changed to one with a gold star.   More information about the flags, stars and the significance can be found HERE.   I really liked this book.  I think it provided me with an excellent picture of life during 1918 in the United States.  In addition I enjoyed the novel.  Please click on the book title and the author's name above,  along with the other indicated areas in the post,  to follow links to more information.  And enjoy the interview with the author that follows in the video.