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cricketmac's review against another edition
4.0
Took my a while to get through, but I really enjoyed this book.
katiescho741's review against another edition
4.0
I love The Black Death, and I really enjoyed this book. I liked the way that Kelly deals with the sprawling nature of the plague by breaking the story down by country, and then by major cities/towns within each chapter. You would think that it's all the same story - plague arrives, people die, plague leaves - but each location has had a different reaction to the plague, as well as different types of chroniclers, and it's interesting to see the different human reactions to such events.
The Jewish aspect was interesting, however, I don't think he needed to write an entire chapter about Jewish oppression for the previous 1000 years. It was the one section that bored me as it added nothing to the story of the Black Death.
This is a great history for anyone with an interest in disease or who wants a general history of the Black Death itself. The map at the start is great aswell.
The Jewish aspect was interesting, however, I don't think he needed to write an entire chapter about Jewish oppression for the previous 1000 years. It was the one section that bored me as it added nothing to the story of the Black Death.
This is a great history for anyone with an interest in disease or who wants a general history of the Black Death itself. The map at the start is great aswell.
marygreenhahaha's review against another edition
4.0
Come on down to The Great Mortality by John Kelly! We got:
Actual horror stories
The emergence of public health as a concept
Antisemitism (so, so much)
Conspiracy theories
Choose your own adventure (puke, cough, and/or shit yourself to death)
The star of the show, yersinia pestis
Actual horror stories
The emergence of public health as a concept
Antisemitism (so, so much)
Conspiracy theories
Choose your own adventure (puke, cough, and/or shit yourself to death)
The star of the show, yersinia pestis
bit101's review against another edition
3.0
Parts of this were really fascinating. Parts were... too off track. Pages and pages about some medieval city, who lived there, what life was like, the celebrities, the villains, the standard of living, the arts, the politics, the gossip, etc. ... then 50% of them died of plague in a page or so. One very interesting side topic was the discussion of the Jews during this period. In many towns and cities, in countries all over Europe, trying to come up with a cause for the plague, people repeatedly settled on the explanations that the Jews had literally poisoned the wells. This lead the the brutal killing, almost invariably involving burning to death of thousands (millions?) of Jews.
The book wasn't quite what I was looking for, but overall was decently interesting.
The book wasn't quite what I was looking for, but overall was decently interesting.
mborer23's review against another edition
4.0
A well-written, informative account of the spread and ferocity of the Black Death. Although we often primarily think of the Black Death as having struck England, it circumnavigated Europe from Mongolia to Italy to France, Spain, Greece, Britain, and as far as Greenland and Scandinavia. First-person accounts from survivors emphasize the human toll of the plague.
whimsyandwitt's review against another edition
4.0
Interesting, informative read.
I especially enjoyed the way Kelly wrote of the Great Mortality as if it were a concious being (perhaps pyschopath) backpacking across Eurasia. Originally dropping in unannounced as a relative nobody, an unwanted guest plaguing the wealthy and poor alike, stirring up political and religious unrest, before eventually gaining massively grim notoriety long before hitting every stop on Its whirlwind Death Thrash Tour.
"In 1348, certain that the plague was abating, the duke emerged from hiding and settled "in a place called Sant' Andrea." Hearing of his reemergence shortly before leaving Sicily, Y.pestis paid a call on the duke at his new home and killed him."
I especially enjoyed the way Kelly wrote of the Great Mortality as if it were a concious being (perhaps pyschopath) backpacking across Eurasia. Originally dropping in unannounced as a relative nobody, an unwanted guest plaguing the wealthy and poor alike, stirring up political and religious unrest, before eventually gaining massively grim notoriety long before hitting every stop on Its whirlwind Death Thrash Tour.
"In 1348, certain that the plague was abating, the duke emerged from hiding and settled "in a place called Sant' Andrea." Hearing of his reemergence shortly before leaving Sicily, Y.pestis paid a call on the duke at his new home and killed him."