Doctoring the Black Death

by John Aberth

[annieb123]

Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Doctoring the Black Death is a layman accessible well written history of the plague years in Europe and the treatments and early public health policy of the late medieval period written by Dr. John Aberth. Due out 1st Sept 2021 from Rowman & Littlefield, it's 504 pages and will be available in hardcover and ebook formats.

This is a well written layman accessible historical treatise of the rise of the bubonic plague, the detection and treatment of the disease, and the social and economic repercussions as a result. This book, while academically rigorous and prodigiously annotated throughout is refreshingly accessible to non-academics. The language is understandable and readable and the author allows the subjects to speak eloquently for themselves, with many case studies and contemporaneous excerpts from physicians, historians, and other writers of the times. Although the diaries and historical accounts have been translated to English from several languages, they're perfectly understandable as related in modern English with notations and explanatory text.

The book is arranged logically with chapters leading the reader through the underlying causes, symptoms, preventative steps (social distancing, flight from plague affected areas, etc - sound familiar?), and attempted cures including surgery, religion, magic, and medicines.

The copious chapter notes and annotations will provide readers with many hours of additional reading. Although the advance review copy which I received did not contain photos, drawings, facsimiles, or an index, they will be included in the final release version.

This is an interesting and (very) timely book and the most comprehensively written one on this subject which I've read. It would make a superlative choice for library acquisition as well as for readers of nonfiction, medicine, infectious disease, and similar.

Five stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.