The Black Death and the Transformation of the West
This work is a collection of three previously unpublished lectures by the late historian Herlihy (Medieval Households, 1985). The essays redefine the historical study of the Black Death: the first examines the basic assumption that the pandemic was an outbreak of bubonic plague, the second looks at its demographic and economic consequences to medieval Europe, and the third explains the cultural changes the plague wrought. Herlihy's contention is that we can learn from this "devastating natural disaster"; for example, parallels can be drawn to today's pandemic of AIDS, especially in the resultant bigotries that both engendered. Cohn (Univ. of Glasgow) introduces the lectures, admirably setting the scene. This book, which opens a new chapter on the history and implications of the plague, is essential for all readers of medieval history.?John J. Doherty, Montana State Univ., BozemanCopyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.