In 2005, two researchers published a study of another swine flu outbreak in America, a cautionary tale that is (as of this writing) ranked 73,467 on Amazon.com.

Another swine flu outbreak in 1976 resulted in billions of dollars in lawsuits over the unexpected side-effects of the hastily-prepared immunization program, as Gawker reminds us. In 2005, University Press of the Pacific published a book about this chilling bit of history: “The Swine Flu Affair: Decision-making on a Slippery Disease” by Richard E. Neustadt and Harvey V. Fineberg. The incident generated a humorous essay in a May 1976 issue of The New Yorker, as Emdashes points out.

Here’s a summary of the book, from Amazon: “The Swine Flu Affair contains a reconstruction of the events leading up to and surrounding the swine flu immunization program, which has been gathered by combining press accounts, hearings, official files, and interviews with participants. This study will be of value to all who are interested in the process by which large decisions are made.”