Skip Desjardin

It's a running joke that the Boston news media will try to find the Boston angle to any major news story. The thesis of this book is that Boston was essentially the center of world events for the month of September 1918, and in many ways Desjardin is not exaggerating.

The 1918 World Series became famous for being the Boston Red Sox last championship for 86 years (after winning 5 of the first 15 World Series). But the World Series that year is remarkable for other reasons. First, it came at the end of a shortened season. As part of the work or fight edict from the US government, Major League Baseball agreed to end the season at Labor Day, with the Red Sox and the Cubs given an extra couple of weeks to complete the World Series. Baseball was then to be suspended for the remainder of the war, and when the World Series ended on September 11th, no one knew the armistice would occur exactly two months later. The war also depressed enthusiasm for the World Series with a low turnout in both ballparks. The players concern of getting the smallest bonus ever offered to World Series participants combined the uncertainty of future employment lead them to strike briefly before one of the games.

The first World War lies heavily over this book as the Wilson government heavily encouraged all-out participation by recruiting and dedicating the homefront to the war effort. One of the first American war heroes, the flying ace David Putnam of Jamaica Plain, died over Germany on September 12. The same day the American forces under General John Pershing began the three day offensive at Saint-Mihiel which included the Yankee Division, primarily made up of New Englanders. This was the first time American divisions lead by American officers took part in an offensive and the successful battle gained respect of the French and British, while making Germany realize their hopes for victory were growing slim.

The War also played a part in spreading the Great Influenza across continents and oceans. The flu made it's first outbreak in the US in Boston at the end of August 1918 and by the early days of September it was infecting - and killing - great numbers of sailors at the Commonwealth Pier and a great number of soldiers at Camp Devens in Ayer. Patriotic events like the Labor Day Parade helped spread the flu to the civilian population. The official response tended towards prioritizing keeping morale high for the war effort rather than reporting the actual deadliness of the disease, and military officers repeatedly stated the worst was past even as the number of deaths in the ranks increased. The flu would burn through Massachusetts by the end of September while having an even more deadly October in the rest of the US in places like Philadelphia.

I've long thought that the period circa 1918-1919 in Boston is an historic era uniquely packed with significant and strange events. Desjardin proves that just picking one month from that period provides the material for a compelling historical work.… (más)