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22nd out of 64 books
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7 voters
The Black Death and the Transformation of the West
The Black Death was the great watershed in medieval history. In this compact book, David Herlihy makes bold yet subtle and subversive inquiries that challenge historical thinking about this disastrous period. As in a finely tuned detective story, he upturns intriguing bits of epidemiological evidence. And, looking beyond the view of the Black Death as unmitigated catastrop...more
Paperback, 128 pages
Published
September 28th 1997
by Harvard University Press
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The book is good, if a bit dated. In the first essay he proposes, IIRC, that the Bubonic Plague was probably several different and maybe opportunistic diseases based on the lack of consensus among contemporary sources over the symptoms of the disease.
However, in October 2010, a multinational team of scientists found
However, in October 2010, a multinational team of scientists found
"tested for DNA and protein signatures specific for Y. pestis in human skeletons from widely distributed mass graves in northern, central and southern Europe that were associated arc...more
In this posthumous work, the reader is presented with three lectures on the Black Death by David Herlihy, (d. 1991) who was a Professor of History at Brown University. The first of the three lectures considers the historical epidemiology and medical problems of the Black Death, the second concerns the new economic and demographic system that emerged post-Black Death, and the final chapter discusses the new modes of thought and feeling. He begins with a fascinating discussion of the historiograph...more
Apr 17, 2013
Gina Martin
added it
I think the premise is very interesting, but wish that the author had explored it more deeply. It's a very short book, with an extensive notes section. I originally heard about it because I'm a fan of The Walking Dead, and the new season 3 character, The Governor. The actor that plays him, David Morrissey, mentioned the book in an interview. The Governor has a vision of remaking the world in the aftermath of the Walker epidemic, and Morrissey noted it was a kind of thinking along the lines of po...more
A little dry but a new way of looking at an old subject considering our own society and the threat of epidemics and new diseases being created, Mr. Herlihy left stacks of research notes and three lectures ungiven when he passed. He studied medieval times and found some interesting ideas on how the plague changed the way of life for all time. The lectures focus on different themes. He explores what causes an epidemic and tries to pinpoint what kind of illness was really being dealt with as some a...more
Jul 28, 2008
Debbie
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Valerie, any Black Death afficionadoes
Recommended to Debbie by:
Dr. Rodriguez
Shelves:
middle-ages
This book completely changed the way I thought about the Black Death. Cohn basically argues that the Black Death was not, in fact, what we think of now as the Bubonic Plague, but he is wise enough not to try to say exactly what it was (a few years prior, another historian had tried to argue that it was anthrax, and was shot down pretty hard).
Cohn presents a good case that the disease that we "know" was spread by fleas on rats (and trust me, almost everyone I talk about the Black Death with "know...more
Cohn presents a good case that the disease that we "know" was spread by fleas on rats (and trust me, almost everyone I talk about the Black Death with "know...more
1 like · like · see review
A useful book for introducing students to Medieval historiography. Short! Which the students like. Just enough detail to keep the pace moving along. A little heavy on demographics -- I always start to glaze over during those parts, so I can only imagine what my students do. But then that's a valuable teaching point also -- the scholarly passion for demography. Feels a little dated now in terms of the cultural connections it makes. Over all, a lovely little meditation on doing history.
Interesting and thought provoking, especially about the social dimensions. The irony is that the preface underlines it's credibility by calling a lot of facts into question. The core idea centres around pre-plague Europe existing on a progress-styming maximum of population density. The allusions to AIDS were a reminder of how thinking in the developed world has changed in the last 15 years.
This book could do with an author profile.
This book could do with an author profile.
This book is really not about the black plague itself, it is more about the effects of the black plague and the changes that took place because of the plague. I think to really understand this book it would be wise to have read a book or be knowledgeable of the events that happened during the black plague. The writing style is very complicated and difficult to understand.
The Black Death was the great watershed in medieval history. In this compact book, David Herlihy makes bold yet subtle and subversive inquiries that challenge historical thinking about this disastrous period. As in a finely tuned detective story, he upturns intriguing bits of epidemiological evidence. And, looking beyond the view of the Black Death as unmitigated catastrophe, Herlihy sees in it the birth of technological advance as societies struggled to create labor-saving devices in the wake o...more
The first part was quite interesting. But once he started spouting off and endless stream of numbers and figures he lost me.
Though a bit dry reading, this was also quite interesting. I was especially fascinated by Herlihy's explanation of the many different ways that society, the economy, labor, markets, religion, attitudes about medicine, and more were affected by the Black Death. As someone with a limited background on the topic, this was a nice introduction that didn't get too mired down in details.
You could read this book in half a day before a dinner party, then delight and disgust your friends with Plague trivia and sound like you have vast stores of knowledge about it.
engrossing
David Herlihy’s revisionist work, The Black Death and the Transformation of the West, would have inevitably been cached away and forgotten; a fate that most miscellaneous intellectual writings face when their authors pass away. Luckily for historians, Herlihy’s work, consisting of three unpublished essays about the Black Death, has survived intact and in many ways has been improved upon by Professor Samuel K. Cohn’s authoritative analysis. As Cohn’s extremely helpful, albeit critical introductio...more
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David Herlihy was an American historian and professor whose books focused on medieval and renaissance life.
"He was one of the first historians to write of women's roles in medieval history," said Mr. Herlihy's wife, Patricia Herlihy, an associate professor in the History Department at Brown (source).
More about David Herlihy...
"He was one of the first historians to write of women's roles in medieval history," said Mr. Herlihy's wife, Patricia Herlihy, an associate professor in the History Department at Brown (source).
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May 01, 2013 07:25am