The Black Death

History Firsthand

by Tom Streissguth

A terrifying disease arrived in the ports of southern Italy and Sicily in the fall of 1347. Within two years, one-third of Europe's population had died of the bubonic and pneumonic plagues. As the sickness spread rapidly from one town to the next, the people of medieval Europe struggled in vain to find its cause and its cure. Letters, reports, medical treatises, and literary accounts collected in this book vividly describe the plague, the terror it brought to those who witnessed it, and its larger effects on medieval society.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

256 pages, Hardcover

First published November 7, 2003

About the author

Tom Streissguth holds a B.A. from Yale University. He has written more than 40 books of history and biography.

Reviews

[Bernard Farrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book consists of writing from people living in each period that is covered. The translations of each text is easy to understand. I found the insight remarkable. It's also clear how panicked people were and the various ways in which they tried to stem the black death.

It's a quick read and well worth it.

[Lovelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very informative narrative on the history of the plague that ravaged Europe in the fourteenth century. This book is mainly a compilation of accounts and literature by individuals who witnessed various effects of the plague: some by priests, some by astronomers, some by physicians, but mostly by common people. These gave me the opportunity to understand the underlying facts and visualize the degree of damage through their point of view.

[Emilio]

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