Major funding for backstory is provided by an anonymous donor, the National Endowment

for the Humanities, and the Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation.

From Virginia Humanities, this is backstory.

Welcome to backstory, the show that explains the history behind the headlines.

I'm Ed Ayers.

If you're new to the podcast, each week, along with my colleagues, Brian Ballot, Nathan

Conley, and Joanne Freeman, we explore a different part of American history.

Now this is a special bonus episode we've put together for you, and we're releasing

it as we all adjust to the rapidly changing circumstances of a world devastated by COVID-19.

A couple weeks ago, as concerns about coronavirus remounting, we pulled together segments from

a past show on the so-called Spanish Influenza of 1918.

Wondering why it's called the Spanish Flu?

Check out the episode in our archives at backstoryoradio.org.

It's called Forgotten Flu, America and the 1918 Pandemic.

Since then, our studios have shut down.

As we've continued work in recording from home, we've been thinking about how we can keep

bringing you the history behind the headlines.

Headlines that are dominated by the spread of COVID-19, and as we're recording this episode

on Wednesday, the loss of more than 81,000 lives and the social, political, and economic

of evil caused by the virus.

You might have caught Joanne, Brian, and I on our Facebook live stream.

We chatted about the historic significance of the moment that we're living in.

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