The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time

Good book!

In the classic 1964 movie "Failsafe" Walter Matthau, playing a Kissingeresque civilian advisor to the Pentagon, makes an argument for the survivability of nuclear holocaust. He observed chillingly that nuclear aftermath would be similar to medieval times, when plagues wiped out entire populations. It is not comforting to read that in real life, the US Atomic Energy Commission to this day uses the Great Plague of 1347-52 as the best predictor of the aftermath of nuclear war.[11] John Kelly gives us a look into the causes, the experiences, and the effects of an epidemic that literally destroyed half the known world, the so-called Black Death. In a story that lends itself naturally to superlatives, Kelly's chronicle begins in a sanguine fashion with an explanation of the evolution of the bacillus "Y Pestis." Y Pestis was no stranger to man before 1347; the organism was probably responsible for a notorious plague during the reign of Justinian. One of the disturbing features of viruses, one that is now becoming more acutely implanted in the contemporary human consciousness, is the ability to mutate or adapt. The great concern over Avian flu is that precisely such an adaptation may be occurring as of this writing. Y Pestis made one its routine mutations in the fourteenth century, in the flatlands between Russia and China. Initially this was a problem only for the local field rat population. Kelly observes, though, that any kind of natural phenomenon--earthquake, drought, flood--often spelled trouble for humans, as rats were displaced from normal burrow habitats and moved closer to human settlements and villages, carrying their diseases du jour. Unfortunately, the timeless rat and the inventive Y Pestis found themselves in a revolutionary new epoch, the zenith of the Middle Ages. The barren Asian prairies were now crisscrossed by trade routes heading in both directions. As Europe evolved into a continent of commercially driven cities, and as feudal isolation gave way to urban congestion, the demand for markets and goods by land and sea made a global pandemic possible for the first time. By 1347 a Tartar army laid siege to the city of Caffa on the northern shore of the Black Sea. Kelly favors the theory that the Tartars brought Y Pestis with rats in their train. In any event, the siege petered out when both forces succumbed to the disease and Caffa would become an historical marker for the disease's entry into Europe. From Caffa the disease was communicated quickly by seafarers, first infecting Constantinople and then in rapid progression the major ports of the Mediterranean, from whence it progressed along rivers and highways alike. Eyewitnesses reported that contagion seemed to occur with incredible speed; just the slightest conversation with infected sailors seemed to transmit the illness. The actual manner of transmission, by fleas or by airborne bacilli, appears to be somewhat in dispute to this day. The speed of contagion, and the attendant morbid symptoms, produced near panic conditions. The term "bubonic plague" is derived from an outbreak of egg-sized growths or "buboes" on the human torso, particularly in the area of the groin and armpit. The bubo was only the worst of a series of catastrophic symptoms, about as severe and unusual as the human imagination wants to go. Kelly discusses in considerable detail why medieval Europe was ripe for such a catastrophe. Generally speaking, the prosperity of the Middle Ages had crested about a century earlier, c. 1250. The next century would see a general decline in farm productivity due to constant warfare, weather, and a demographic shift to cities. In fact, much of Europe was emerging from drought and food shortages, conditions that generally weakened human resistance and brought vermin closer to urban centers, as the disease arrived. Interestingly, Kelly suggests that without the Great Plague, Europe would have faced what he called "a Malthusian deadlock." [293] The tremendous population growth of the previous century had placed insurmountable strain upon the economic substructure. The post-plague Europe would prove to be a revitalized Europe. This was small comfort for those who lived through this nightmare. Kelly depends upon two invaluable sources: chroniclers and vital statistics. Chroniclers were not always accurate, and their death estimates sometimes exceeded the actual population of the cities reported. What they did report with great accuracy was the temper of the times, which ranged from pure panic to bacchanalian resignation. The Black Death brought out the best and the worst in every stratum of life: parents who abandoned children, parents who died for the children. Priests who tended the dying and dead; priests who fled to the mountains. One group of officials who remained remarkably persistent were notaries. Kelly draws heavily from their record keeping, which appears constant throughout the crisis. Notaries drew wills, settled accounts, recorded burials, and generally gave historians something of a barometer for actual population decreases. Kelly estimates a death rate of about 50% for nearly every segment of Europe; only Ireland's percentage appeared somewhat lower. By 1352 the plague, having arrived in Moscow, finally abated, having completed the hangman's noose around Europe. Kelly provides what might be called a medical Monday morning summary of events, reviewing the scientific literature from medieval times to the present day as to the precise nature of this event. Biological terrorism and recent virus mutations make this a valuable discussion. If there are any deficiencies in this work, it may be the absence of reflection upon the meaning of so terrible a disaster, in the way we reflect upon the meaning of the Holocaust. Sadly, the Black Plague unleashed unprecedented waves of anti-Semitism. Perhaps such searchings for meaning escape words. Look at the grotesque cover of this work [which I tried to discretely obscure from airport security personnel for fear I would be labeled a dangerous fellow.] I have no idea what it means, but it scares the hell out of me.

The Great Mortality is a quick, engaging read; a narrative of the plague that struck Europe in the 1340s. It provides a story-teller's version of the origins of the disease in rodent populations in Central Asia, its trajectory to Europe, from the Black Sea into Italy, and then provides narrative snapshots of several regions - Italy, France, England - explaining how the plague impacted each society in turn. Its style is docudrama, with stories of people from nobility to commoner weaved together to build an overall picture of the devastating effects of the plague on people, society and history. The book is interesting and informative and worth a read, however it does have some defects. The first and worst is the repeated references to Norman Cantor's book "in the Wake of the Plague". Surely Kelly, who has done tremendous research, knows that Cantor's book is completely discredited and largely falsified. It undermines Kelly's own work that rather than expose Cantor's flaws, he cites them as though they are trustworthy. A minor quibble is Kelly's calling it the "Norwegian rat", when it is the Norway rat. The other regrettable aspect is the tone -- Kelly makes a meal out of personifying the plague, telling us that it is sometimes exhausted or eager or camps out or slithers into a new town. Its a useful effect when used once or twice, but the author's insistence on this effect becomes increasingly cringy as the book goes on. Perhaps a good editor can clean that up in future editions. Overall this is a good book, quick and informative and mercifully free of self-referential academic fetishes. The narrator is excellent, expressive and careful. Worth a listen.

The Great Mortality is popular non-fiction at its best. The history and circumstances that lead to the great plague of the middle ages are examined in depth but lightened and leavened by the heartbreaking human stories that made the plague so devastating. The Great Mortality is extensively researched and the reader is the winner but the writing is so wonderful in its narrative that the reader doesn't realize that they are learning a great deal. Covering feudal society pre and post-plague, economics, medicine, trade, history, social history and controversies surrounding all of these, the Great Mortality covers all of the bases. Geographically Kelly covers all of Europe, England and Asia Minor, tracing the course of the plague from interior Asia to Ireland. The author states in his foreward that the Middle Ages had previously seemed like such a foreign country that he doubted his ability to even visit, but the ineluctability of human nature for both good and ill gave him his entree. People, both great and small are what finally brings home all of the descriptions of history and disease. From Joanna of Naples, on trial for murdering her husband to Agnola the Fat, a Siennese chronicler who strove to climb the non-existent ladder in the Middle Ages and ended by burying his wife and five sons all dead from the plague. The contrasts between a doctor who stayed to treat victims until finally succumbing himself to Petrarch and Cola who used every happening to further their own cult of personality. The more things change.... John Kelly also covers the medical controversies that still surround the plague. Why did it behave so differently in the 14th century than it did in later centuries. Was it a different disease? Kelly deals ably with all of these questions, even the ones that cannot be completely answered as the Plague of the Middle Ages did behave differently than it ever has before or since. Exceptionally well written and researched the Great Mortality is a wonderful social history and the reader ends up learning some real history as well. Highly recommended.

Kelly, John, The Great Mortality. New York: HarperCollins, 2005. This book bears an unnecessarily inflammatory subtitle: "An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time." It turns out to be solid scholarship, however, with a predictable but fascinating plot: the march of the plague bacillus, y. pestis, throughout Europe beginning in 1348, carried by the familiar black rat flea, Xenopsylla cheopsis. This insect can survive up to six weeks without a host, but when desperate for blood to drink, can swarm--researchers counted up to 900 infected fleas on one unfortunate ground squirrel in Colorado. When its rat host dies in great numbers, the fleas switch over to humans. The Great Plague apparently was triggered by several years of horrible crop failures, known as The Great Famine, which weakened human immune systems, and by earthquakes and other natural events that caused the rats to panic and flee from their Mongol origins into settled communities. Transportation was by boat, horse, camel, or infected cloth. Given the miserable sanitary conditions of Medieval people, the death rate is estimated as high as 60-70% in some areas. One of the victims was Princess Joan, the 15-year old daughter of the King of England, who died during her pre-wedding trip. The book gives detailed descriptions of the pandemic and the efforts to avoid its effects, not excluding numerous murderous attacks on Jews (whole communities were herded into a single building and burned alive) even though Jews were dying along with all the rest of the victims. The anti-Semitism of all European countries is the virulence that, were it possible, exceeded that of the plague itself, and it has never been put to rest. The depopulation of Europe, its subsequent economic transformation and loss of authority of the Church, are covered as well as the movement of the disease itself. The horrible events of the 14th century, when the Hundred Years War began, were brilliantly set out in Barbara Tuchman's famous book, A Distant Mirror (1979), which is worth a revisit. Kelly does a thorough job of explaining the workings and tragic results of the Black Death, including the mention of a form I hadn't been aware of: septicemic plague, which traveled from the lymph nodes to the blood stream, killing its victims within 12 hours from onset. Kelly's book well deserves the five stars I've given it.

This was an excellent read! I couldn’t put it down. Yes, it was frightening, but also so fascinating!

Wow, this book is simply amazing, recounting the horrors, and I mean HORRORS, of the Black Death that decimated the populations of the medieval world. So why the 4 stars? First let me tell you why I would have given it 5 stars: I love the dramatic events of history that have changed the course of humans and the plague certainly is one. You only need to visit the affected areas in Europe to realize the historical impact of this event. Mr. Kelly seems to have done extensive research (even though I am no historian). He documents his accounting through writings from various sources closely connected to the event, sources who often didn't live to see a brighter day. Yet these very personal accounts of the plague are the strength of this book. We really can feel the impact of this horrendous event on the individuals whose accounts he discovered in his research. And perhaps more interestingly, we see how the rich and powerful (and holy) tried to escape almost certain death. Another reason I would have given this book 5 stars is the author's research on the origins of this plague and its different strains; I kept a map of Asia/Europe beside me while reading so as to trace the beginnings and follow its destructive path. He answers many questions about how it took hold and was so successful in its biological mission to kill and the various ways scientists, philosophers, teachers, and ordinary people tried to understand and deal with this crisis. (This often made me think about diseases killing us today for which we have no answers for cures.) A third reason I would have given this book 5 stars is its pure "fright" factor. This event must have been one of the most horrifying ever experienced by man; parents watched as their children died one after the other, or worse, they fled to avoid catching the disease, leaving their children to suffer an excruciating death all alone. The details can be gruesomely overwhelming yet fascinating at the same time. So why 4 and not 5 stars? It's pretty much the same story from place to place, whether in Venice, Florence, Avignon, Paris or London- people died in the same patterns and numbers. In fact, I'm half way through the book and may not finish because it's the same thing again and again. True, there are interesting stories tied to specific people, like the Pope in Avignon, that are injected here and there, but basically, once the plague got going, it killed in the same way over and over again. So who should read this book? Anyone who loves history, particularly of Europe, and is familiar with the places so dramatically affected by the plague. Anyone who likes to contemplate how something we cannot see can wreak havoc on the human population (still true today) and anyone who loves a gruesome, gory TRUE story. Maybe I'll give it 5 stars!

The Great Mortality is a good book for the general reader who wants to know more about the Black Death of the late 1340s, and that is both good and bad. It provides a broad overview from many parts of Europe and some parts of the East, but then there are enormous gaps in the story. What happened in India? Japan? Most of Africa? What were the Black Death effects on Malta, which would have a major plague epidemic in the 1600s? (That omission seemed particularly odd, as a comparison of the two outbreaks on Malta could provide interesting contrasts and comparisons.) Many aspects of the 1340s plague descriptions are compared to the known symptoms from more recent outbreaks of bubonic plague, but again there are puzzling omissions, which - how could you not want to find the answer?? Medieval historians sometimes mentioned that the plague buboes made noise! I mean - how? What kind? Have the buboes of modern victims made noise? Not a word about that. As the New Yorker used to say, "Our forgetful authors". The author kindly throws in some light-hearted comments amidst all the "death and death and death", and that is sometimes a relief; but sadly, the most amusing moment in the book (I have the trade paperback edition) arrives on page 12, where an editing or proofing error results in these sentences: "Plague is a disease of rodents. People are simply collateral damage, wastage in a titanic global struggle between the plague bacillus Yersinia pestis and the world's rodent population. Y. pestis's natural prey are turbots, marmots, rats, squirrels, gerbils, prairie dogs, and roughly two hundred other rodent species." Well. I have heard of all the animals mentioned, and they are all, except one, indeed, rodents. But that one - the first mentioned - is not a rodent nor even a mammal. I double-checked!!! Turbots are FISH. Then I found myself trying to conceptualize Y pestis thriving underwater and somehow, without benefit of fleas (unless the fleas were equipped with tiny SCUBA gear, which they jettisoned upon the fish being hauled in by human fishermen), transmitting themselves into the human bloodstream. Maybe if this happened in Japan and the human ate sushi? Why are such egregious errors permitted? Where do they even come from? The closest I could imagine was an unnoticed spell-check error, where the word "tarabagan" (a type of marmot found in Siberia, Mongolia and Northwestern China) was changed to the much more common "turbot". The only rodent I could find with a name beginning with "tu" is the tuco-tuco of South America, which is EXTREMELY unlikely to have had any relevance to the Black Death - since it is a New World rodent! Sorry, but finding this whopping error in a "scientific" book makes me wonder about all the "facts" presented about subjects of which I know nothing. The ones I wouldn't even know enough to question. It's a slippery slope when such errors are allowed to stand. Even though that one was funny!

If you have any interest in history, read this. This work deals mostly with the outbreak of the Black Death between 1347 to 1352. Jammed to the rafters with interesting facts, first hand accounts, heart wrenching stories of loss and grief and insights into the human psyche. First rate, highly recommend.

Chegou rápido, embora a previsão da Amazon é meio pessimista e te deixa desanimado. Já estou acabando a leitura, e é perfeita.

The cover was ripped and scratched.

This book is in v old style of writing. to flowery words which was not needed. It can be straight forward.

What is special about this work is how the author goes beyond just the grim details of the plague and illustrates the world of the times from one end of the known world to the other.