A century ago, a deadly flu virus swept across the world and experts are still trying to understand the scope of the disaster that killed millions of people, including more than six-thousand Iowans. Over the next month, social historian Michael Luick-Thrams will visit dozens of libraries, schools and museums with a presentation he calls, “The Killer.”

Luick-Thrams, who directs the non-profit TRACES, says history offers a distant mirror of how we as a society respond to the crises in our own time. He says TRACES uses historical events to bring people together to discuss challenging subjects.

Luick-Thrams says he wants people to understand why the residents who survived the flu epidemic largely chose not to share their stories. He says learning about society at that time, and how it influenced the history that got passed down, may give people a better understanding of today’s challenges — including what gets debated and what gets suppressed.