The Black Death: A Masterly History of the Medieval Plague Pandemic and its Devastating Impact on Europe (Harper Perennial Modern Classics)

“As exciting and readable an account as you couldwish.”  — The Guardian“Fascinating.” – Bill BrysonThe Black Death vividly and comprehensively brings to light the full horror of this uniquely catastrophic event that hastened the disintegration of an age.A series of natural disasters in the Orient during thefourteenth century brought about the most devastating period of death anddestruction in European history. The epidemic killed one-third of Europe'speople over a period of three years, and the resulting social and economicupheaval was on a scale unparalleled in all of recorded history. Synthesizingthe records of contemporary chroniclers and the work of later historians,Philip Ziegler offers a critically acclaimed overview of this crucial epoch in asingle masterly volume.  Read more