''The Last Town on Earth'' is a 2006 novel by American writer
Thomas Mullen
Thomas Mullen (20 June 1896 – 2 January 1966) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician and school teacher.
He was born in Roemore, Breaffy, County Mayo, to primary school teacher parents, Thomas and Mary Mullen (née Coggins).Deaths, ''Irish Ind ...
. The novel explores events in the fictional town of Commonwealth,
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
in 1918 during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
and the
Spanish flu
The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case wa ...
epidemic. The town agrees to quarantine itself from the outside world, hoping to escape the international epidemic of the flu.
Phillip Worthy, the adopted son of Charles Worthy, the town founder, brings a lost soldier into the town. While he appears to be healthy, residents begin to suffer the flu, and start to turn against each other.
The politics of the
Industrial Workers of the World
The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), members of which are commonly termed "Wobblies", is an international labor union that was founded in Chicago in 1905. The origin of the nickname "Wobblies" is uncertain. IWW ideology combines general ...
,
American Protective League
The American Protective League (1917-1919) was an organization of private citizens sponsored by the United States Department of Justice that worked with Federal law enforcement agencies during the World War I era. Its mission to identify suspected ...
, and the
Four Minute Men
The Four Minute Men were a group of volunteers authorized by United States President Woodrow Wilson to give four-minute speeches on topics given to them by the Committee on Public Information (CPI). In 1917–1918, over 750,000 speeches were give ...
, as well as the aftermath of the
Everett Massacre
The Everett Massacre (also known as Bloody Sunday) was an armed confrontation between local authorities and members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) union, commonly called "Wobblies". It took place in Everett, Washington on Sunday, ...
, play major roles in the novel. According to the author's afterword, he created the fictional community of Commonwealth inspired by his studies of
Gunnison, Colorado
Gunnison is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Gunnison County, Colorado. The city population was 6,560 at the 2020 United States Census. Gunnison was named in honor of John W. Gunnison, a Un ...
(which
imposed a quarantine trying to prevent the flu) and the socialist communes in Washington state of
Equality Colony
Equality Colony was a United States socialist colony founded in Skagit County, Washington by a political organization known as the Brotherhood of the Cooperative Commonwealth in 1897. It was meant to serve as a model which would convert the rest o ...
,
Freeland
Freeland may refer to:
Places Canada
*Freeland, Prince Edward Island
United Kingdom
*Freeland, Oxfordshire
United States
*Freeland, Maryland
*Freeland, Michigan
*Freeland, Ohio
*Freeland, Pennsylvania
*Freeland, Washington
Other uses
*Freel ...
, and
Home. Mullen also cited
John M. Barry
John M. Barry (born 1947) is an American author and historian who has written books on the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, the influenza pandemic of 1918, and the development of the modern form of the ideas of separation of church and state and ...
's 2004 book ''
The Great Influenza
''The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Plague in History'' (originally subtitled ''The Epic Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History'') is a 2004 nonfiction book by John M. Barry that examines the Spanish flu, a 1918-1920 flu pande ...
'' as inspiration.
This novel won the
James Fenimore Cooper Prize for Best Historical Fiction in 2007. ''
The New York Times Book Review
''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...
'' calls it a "remarkable first novel" and praises the novel's "brilliant series of plot twists" and "carefully detailed historical context".
References
2006 novels
Novels set during World War I
James Fenimore Cooper Prize-winning works
Novels set in Washington (state)
Industrial Workers of the World in fiction
Books about labour
2006 debut novels
Spanish flu in popular culture
Novels about influenza outbreaks
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