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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."
linneamo's review against another edition
4.0
a little dry but especially interesting to read in the middle of pandemic. embarrassed to learn that the plague was a time of antisemitism that rivaled the holocaust as Jewish people were often blamed for the sickness .
lesserjoke's review against another edition
4.0
It's March 2021, and I've read quite a few titles over the past year looking at the global history of pandemics, the science behind their causes, and the strategies that led to their ultimate cures. This 2005 volume on the medieval 'Black Death' doesn't deal too much with that second category, and the third is somewhat irrelevant, since the proposed solutions at the time were neither rigorous nor effective and the disease largely died out on its own.
However, as a deep dive into what it was like for people in Europe and Asia experiencing the catastrophe firsthand, this is a valuable and well-researched guide with the expected additional poignancy for a reader in the midst of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. Author John Kelly goes into brutal detail about both the biological course of the infection and the socioeconomic ramifications of its spread, and if nothing else, that provides a good perspective on how our own situation could be so much worse. (Many lives continue to be lost to the novel coronavirus, yet nowhere near half the population of any given locale.)
Kelly writes not only of the emotional cost to such an unfathomable casualty count, but also of the immediate practical impact, from a spike in graphic antisemitic violence to the difficulties of adjudicating court cases, conducting trade, or really carrying out any other regular pre-plague activity. Drawing on primary records of the era, the writer wanders from city to city -- mostly in the south and west -- to paint a sorrowful and informative picture of how each area would have witnessed the calamity and its aftereffects.
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However, as a deep dive into what it was like for people in Europe and Asia experiencing the catastrophe firsthand, this is a valuable and well-researched guide with the expected additional poignancy for a reader in the midst of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. Author John Kelly goes into brutal detail about both the biological course of the infection and the socioeconomic ramifications of its spread, and if nothing else, that provides a good perspective on how our own situation could be so much worse. (Many lives continue to be lost to the novel coronavirus, yet nowhere near half the population of any given locale.)
Kelly writes not only of the emotional cost to such an unfathomable casualty count, but also of the immediate practical impact, from a spike in graphic antisemitic violence to the difficulties of adjudicating court cases, conducting trade, or really carrying out any other regular pre-plague activity. Drawing on primary records of the era, the writer wanders from city to city -- mostly in the south and west -- to paint a sorrowful and informative picture of how each area would have witnessed the calamity and its aftereffects.
Find me on Patreon | Goodreads | Blog | Twitter