Free eBooks The Black Death: The Great Mortality Of 1348-1350: A Brief History With Documents (Bedford Cultural Editions Series) Available To Downloads
A fascinating account of the phenomenon known as the Black Death, this volume offers a wealth of documentary material focused on the initial outbreak of the plague that ravaged the world in the fourteenth century. A comprehensive introduction that provides important background on the origins and spread of the plague is followed by nearly 50 documents organized into topical sections that focus on the origin and spread of the illness; the responses of medical practitioners; the societal and economic impact; religious responses; the flagellant movement and attacks on Jews provoked by the plague; and the artistic response. Each chapter has an introduction that summarizes the issues explored in the documents; headnotes to the documents provide additional background material. The book contains documents from many countries — including Muslim and Byzantine sources — to give students a variety of perspectives on this devastating illness and its consequences. The volume also includes illustrations, a chronology of the Black Death, questions to consider, a selected bibliography, and an index.
Series: Bedford Cultural Editions Series
Paperback: 200 pages
Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin's; The Bedford Series in History and Culture edition (February 1, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 031240087X
ISBN-13: 978-0312400873
Product Dimensions: 5.9 x 0.3 x 8.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #261,039 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #125 in Books > Textbooks > Medicine & Health Sciences > Medicine > Special Topics > History #194 in Books > Medical Books > Medicine > Internal Medicine > Infectious Disease > Communicable Diseases #368 in Books > Medical Books > History
Nicely composed first source historical documents. Excellent source material for the historian, easily accessed and well researched. The extensive bibliography only adds weight to the validity of sources. Also provides interesting insight into the cultural and social events and reactions surrounding the Black Plague.
This is a collection of translations of texts written not long after the plague of 1348-1350. This book is a useful collection of original texts and could be read to give a general idea of what happened during the Black Death, but is not enough by itself to give someone a thorough understanding of the Black Death. For example, Aberth mentions that the Black Death was the second pandemic of a disease whose first pandemic was the Plague of Justinian, but does not give even a paragraph to talking about that plague; perhaps the collection "Plague and the End of Antiquity" would be a good place to learn about the Plague of Justinian in detail. However, the short amount of exposition Aberth does give is good.Each text comes with a short description of its author. For example, the description of the arrival of the Black Death in Messina by Michele da Piazza is often quoted (for instance, it is currently cited on the Wikipedia page for the Black Death), but Piazza is a writer scarcely any reader would know anything about. Aberth tells us that Piazza was from Catania, another Sicilian town near Messina, says that there was a rivalry between Catania and Messina, and suggests that "the chronicler may have awarded Messina the honor of first plague infection out of spite".
The book content is well organized. It wasn't repetitive and it was always something new. Its very small too so it wasn't a hard read. I bought it for class. More fun than other books.
This was great for my term paper that I had to write. This has a lot of information and documents. Very happy with my purchase.
This book was very informative about the Plague. The documents were very helpful in understand the different aspects of the Plague, including the social political and economical. It was also an easy read.
Good book, the important primary source documents are there. The discussions of them are brief but good.
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