John Aberth received his Ph.D. in Medieval History from the University of Cambridge, UK. He has published ten books--mostly focusing on the history of the Black Death and disease--and has taught for twenty years at various colleges and universities in Vermont, Nebraska, and New York.

• List of FiguresList of ImagesList of MapsList of TablesAbout the AuthorAcknowledgments Preface. What was the Black Death?The Evolution and Epidemiology of PlagueThe Three Pandemics of PlaguePaleomicrobiology Identifies the Black Death as Plague1. "It Began in the Land of Darkness": The Geographical Origin and Spread of the Second Pandemic Where Did the Black Death Begin?How Did the Black Death Spread?Mapping the Black Death2. Bring Out Your Dead! How Many People Died during the Great Mortality?How the Black Death Raised the Mortality AntePlague Mortality, 1347-1353Plague Mortality, 1353-c.1500Why Did the Black Death End?Was the Black Death Indiscriminate?The Personal Side of Plague Mortality3. Doctoring the Black Death: The Medical Response to PlagueCausesSignsPreventionCureThe Verdict on Medieval Medicine4. What Goes Around Comes Around: Environmental Aspects of the Black DeathEnvironmental Causes and Signs of PlagueFear of StenchesEnvironmental Factors Affecting Plague Vectors: ClimateEnvironmental Factors Affecting Plague Hosts: Rats and Housing5. "Al Shal [Not] Be Wel": The Religious Response to the Great MortalitySpirituality and Piety in the Wake of the PlagueIslam's Response to the Black DeathThe Problem of Post-Plague Parish PovertyTowards a Reformation?6. "To Yow Myn Hand is Rawght to this Daunce": The Artistic Impact of the Black DeathPainted Depictions of PlagueThe Plague SaintsThe Macabre or Memento MoriPhysical Impacts of Plague 7. The "Red Knights of Christ": The Flagellant MovementThe Flagellant ItineraryThe Flagellant RitualPerspectives on the FlagellantsThe Flagellants' Suppression18. "They Processed to the Flames Dancing, Singing, and Weeping": The Artificial Poison ConspiracyFirst Stirrings in Southern FranceThe Conspiracy in CataloniaThe Poisoned Springs of the SavoyThe Great Massacres of the Kingdom of GermanyThe Persecuted and Their PersecutorsAftermath of the Conspiracy9. When Brothers Abandoned Brothers: The Social Impacts of the Black DeathFear of Being AbandonedFear of Being ForgottenFear of Being UnshrivenPlague and the Poor10. The Peasants are Revolting! The New Realities of the Plague EconomyThe Plague EconomyWas There Economic Recovery After the Black Death?A Golden Age of the Laborer?The Decline of SerfdomThe Peasant Land MarketA Time of Transition?Epilogue. Could the Black Death Happen Again (and Would We Want It To)? Lessons to be Learned in the Modern WorldAppendix: The Plague Denial ControversyBibliography

Aberth's book will be a useful guide for a new generation of students, born after AIDS cocktails made that disease more or less controllable in the mid-1990s and who are now grappling for the first time with what pandemics do to societies Whether upcoming generations adopt the "silver linings" optimism about pandemics Aberth espouses here remains to be seen. But Oxford University Press has served them well in providing this affordable and comprehensive volume.