27 April 2018: History Ireland ‘Hedge School’: ‘Greatest killer of the 20th century? The flu pandemic of 1918-19’, Cobh Library, Co. Cork
On Friday 27 April 2018, as part of CAFE Readers’ and Writers’ Festival, Cobh Library, Co. Cork, hosted a History Ireland ‘Hedge School’ debate entitled ‘Greatest killer of the 20th century? The flu pandemic of 1918-19’. The twentieth century was the century of mass death and yet, contrary to popular misconception, the greatest killer of all time was neither Hitler nor Stalin but an illness often mistakenly associated with the common cold — epidemic influenza. It infected one billion people around the globe and may have killed approximately 100 million. To discuss its effects in Ireland and worldwide, History Ireland editor Tommy Graham was joined by Ida Milne (Maynooth), Guy Beiner (Ben-Gurion University), Patricia Marsh and Andrew McCarthy (UCC). This Hedge School is supported by the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. This Hedge School was supported by the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.