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History Unplugged Podcast

September 1918: War, Plague, and The World Series

History Unplugged Podcast

History Unplugged

Society & Culture, History

4.2 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 6 November 2018

⏱️ 61 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In the late summer of 1918, a division of Massachusetts militia volunteers led the first unified American fighting force into battle in France, turning the tide of World War I. Meanwhile, the world’s deadliest pandemic—the Spanish Flu—erupted in Boston and its suburbs, bringing death on a terrifying scale, first to military facilities and then to the civilian population. At precisely the same time, amidst the surrounding ravages of death, a young pitcher named Babe Ruth rallied the sport’s most dominant team, the Boston Red Sox, to a World Series victory—the last the Sox would see for eighty-six years.

In this episode I I talk with Google executive Skip Desjardin about September 1918, a moment in history almost too cinematic to be real.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Welcome to the History Unplugged Podcast.

0:05.4

The unscripted show that celebrates unsung heroes, Mythbust's historical lies, and rediscoveres

0:11.9

the forgotten stories that changed our world.

0:15.5

I'm your host, Scott Rank.

0:23.3

Sometimes a lot of things happen at once, and one of those moments was September 1918.

0:29.2

In this month, a division of Massachusetts militia volunteers led the first unified

0:33.7

American fighting force into battle in France, turning the Titan World War I.

0:38.4

At the same time, the world's deadliest pandemic, the Spanish flu, erupted in Boston and

0:44.4

its suburbs, killing about 700,000, bringing death first in military facilities, and then

0:51.0

to the civilian population.

0:53.1

And the US government actively worked to tamp down on coverage of the pandemic, probably

0:57.7

making it a lot more delier than it would have been otherwise.

1:00.8

At the same time, a young pitcher named Bay Bruth led baseball's most dominant team, the

1:05.7

Boston Red Sox, to a World Series victory.

1:08.1

The last of the Red Sox would see for 86 years.

1:11.3

In this episode, I'm talking with author Skip Disjardin, who's the author of the new book,

1:17.3

September 1918, War, Plague, and the World Series.

1:21.3

He mentions that all these events converging aren't just coincidence, but have to do with

1:25.7

massive shifts that are happening in American society.

1:29.4

It's sort of a tipping point moment, and all these events are the visible effects of it.

1:34.1

So in this discussion, we talk about a bunch of sensational true stories that simultaneously

1:38.5

strike America.

...

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