About this title: John Kelly's history of the Black Death is a colorful, compulsively readable, and very complete look at the subject, including his theory of what caused it (the rapid growth of trade, i.e. ships spreading disease from port to port) and also of what sprang from it: the middle class, property law, and the persecution of the Jews (who, of course, ...
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Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. 2006-Paperback----Used-Good-Hall Street Books proudly ships from Brooklyn, NY. All orders are processed and shipped within 24 hours, M-F. 100% money back No-Worry guarantee with expedited delivery and delivery confirmation available. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Date Published: 1/31/2006
ISBN-13:9780060006938ISBN:0060006935
Description: Fine. 0060006935 Ships next business day. NEW/UNREAD! ! ! Text is Clean and Unmarked! --Be Sure to Compare Seller Feedback and Ratings before Purchasing--Has a small black line on bottom/exterior edge of pages. May have light shelf wear to cover from storage, if any. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780739458457ISBN:0739458450
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. 364 p. Audience: General/trade. A very nice copy, almost no evidence of use. Pages are clean, bright, and unmarked (former price penciled on flyleaf). Binding tight without spine crease. The cover is shiny and attractive with hardly any edge/shelf wear (a few small chips). A terrific copy in VG to fine condition. read more
Description: Very Good. 0060006935 Light general wear, but a nice, clean, tight copy. Please compare our ratings and shop with confidence. Member, Antiquarian Book Dealers Association of SC. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Date Published: 2006
ISBN-13:9780060006938ISBN:0060006935
Description: New. No dust jacket as issued. excellent condition, no rips or markings. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 364 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Date Published: 2006-02-01
ISBN-13:9780060006938ISBN:0060006935
Description: New. New Book. There is slight time wear. Otherwise looks new. Free tracking # included! International buyers are welcome. We ship every business day. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed! read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: HarperCollins
Date Published: 2005-02-01
ISBN-13:9780060006921ISBN:0060006927
Description: Very Good. REALLY Beautiful Condition Inside and Out. ALL MY BUYERS ENTERED IN CONTEST AT END OF MONTH FOR FREE $5 GIFT CERTIFICATE! ! FAST Shipping. Free tracking with domestic orders. ISBN 0060006927. read more
Description: Good-See Description. Never a Dust Jacket. Paperbound Good condition. Light wear, mostly around edges. History of Black Death, plague. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: HarperCollins
Date Published: 2005-02-01
ISBN-13:9780060006921ISBN:0060006927
Description: New. First Edition, First Printing. New and in excellent condition (wear/chipping on dust jacket, otherwise in mint/pristine condition). Pages are clean and crisp with a tight spine. read more
Description: Very Good. 0739458450 light shelf wear / edge wear cover / pages light discoloration around edges//"Buy with Confidence-Satisfaction Guaranteed! Customer Service Makes All the Difference. " read more
Edition: First Edition/3rd Printing
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: HarperCollins, New York, New York, U.S.A.
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780060006921ISBN:0060006927
Description: As New in As New jacket. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. As new. read more
Description: New in no jacket. pp. 364. ìLa moria grandissimaî (îthe great mortalityî) began its terrible journey across the European & Asian continents in 1347, leaving unimaginable devastation in its wake. Five years later, 25 million people were dead, felled by the scourge that would come to be called the Black Death. This is the extraordinary epic account of the worst natural disaster in European history--a drama of courage, cowardice, misery, madness, & sacrifice that brilliantly illuminates humankind ... read more
"This book was recommended by a friend who shares my love of world history. Again, he was correct in assessing this little book as good reading.........I was fascinated by the march of the Black Death as a living entity across the continents of Asia, Europe and beyond (I was surprised that it actually reached Greenland). Utilizing the writings of survivors of the plague and "after the fact" observers, Kelly weaves a tale of unremitting horror, death, suffering and economic chaos as Y pestis struck down almost half the population that it touched. He follows the Death from the wilds of Mongolia to the fateful journey of the Genoan ship that brought the sickness to the Continent. The story drags and becomes somewhat repetitive in spots as he moves with the plague from city to city. But it is a forgivable sin. The author has done an immense amount of research and in the last chapter he offers the arguments and theories of modern scientists regarding the question..... "was it bubonic plague, pneumonic plague, anthrax, or some unknown illness that died out after its dance of death?" A very interesting and informative telling of one of the greatest catastrophes in the history of mankind."
"One of those books that makes me glad I was born in 1982 and not say, 1342. This was a clear and interesting survey of the 14th century's major disasters: famine, plague, and a bit of war just for good measure. This book has so many interesting tid bits in it.
It explained why the bulk of Europe's Jewish communities were in Poland at the outbreak of WWII. Christian Europeans had almost exterminated them everywhere except Poland where the king gave them refuge after being influenced by his beatiful Jewish mistress named, that's right, Esther.
Yersina Pestis is a rodent disease that jumped to humans.
Also, the common idea that it was black rat fleas that spread the disease to people has a problem. Rat fleas don't bite humans until they are desperate. So observers would have noticed that the streets were knee-deep in dead rats right before the outbreak. So the role of the human flea becomes more important.
Marmots on the steppes of Eurasia probably carried the Y. Pestis disease first and it spread to the merchants on the road to China. I think, if I read it right, it started as a septicemic disease that was spread by coughing. I need to check that.
Because of the sudden dearth of labor, mills, printing-presses and other labor-saving devices developed.
Everyone had fleas! Even the King of England's teen-age daughter died."
"I didn't find this book as interesting as I thought. There were fun historical details, and a good history of how the plague most likely spread from central Asia to Europe. But after a while it felt a bit repetitive. Each chapter told how the plague unfolded in a different city, and after a few chapters, you got the basic idea, although some cities reacted differently than others (some burned Jews at the stake while others didn't, for instance). Some events were actually explained in one place and then re-explained in detail in another chapter, when it could have just been referenced. I ended up skipping the last third of the book b/c I felt like I pretty much got it."
"This is fascinating, well written and compelling. The plague changed Europe in many cases killing up to 80% of the people in a village. It is only recently that populations have begun to build to pre-plague times. People did not know how it was being spread nor how to handle the sheer numbers of people who died. The churches soon had no priests to conduct funerals and people were buried in large trenches. Soon there was no one left to bury the dead."
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