Plague!: A Review of The Great Mortality

The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time by John     Kelly

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A Compelling Melding of Science & History, with Lessons for Today

As I sit writing this review, the world is once again ravaged by disease (COVID-19) that is killing thousands around the globe and forcing millions of others to shelter in their homes and pray that this illness would pass over them. So, to say that reading this book about the Black Death, the plague that ravaged Europe
in the middle of the fourteenth century, is timely would be an understatement. The past can be both teacher and guide in times like these.

One of the great things about this book is how it is not just a recounting of death, though there is plenty of that to be had in these pages. The first few chapters and the afterword are devoted to understanding just what kind of a disease the Plague was. So, on top of reading a thorough history about how the Plague decimated the Eurasian continent, you will have better scientific understanding of the disease itself, where it originated from, and how it spread and killed.

Of course, Mr. Kelly uses the majority of his narrative to describe the when and where the Plague struck Europe and how it left a wake of human destruction in its path. Through the use of the best statistical information available as well as the numerous contemporary accounts that were written at the time, Mr. Kelly’s history is both incredibly thorough and accessible. There is something for both the hardcore historian and the layman to like in this book. At times, it even seems a little excessive. Mr. Kelly devotes two chapters to the Plague’s rampage through England when probably one chapter would have done.

Mr. Kelly does not restrict his history to the disease’s destruction. Mr. Kelly also points out how the Black Death affected society in several negative ways. One of the most horrendous and heartbreaking portions of this book is about the number of pogroms committed against Europe’s Jewish populations that would presage the Holocaust in a number of horrifying ways. Just as COVID-19 is unleashing a wave of anti-Asian American bigotry right now, so too did the Plague unleash a wave of virulent and violent anti-semitism, though the currently bigotry against Asian-Americans is nowhere near as violent as the Plague pogroms were.

By the time the Plague dissipated, the tinder of overpopulation, resource strain, climate change and religious & intellectual stagnation that defined Europe in the years prior to its arrival would all be burned away, paving the way for the Renaissance, the Reformation, and modern Europe. By chronicling this critical period in world history, Mr. Kelly has given us a wonder picture of both the medieval era and the calamitous disease that signaled the beginning of its end. It also holds up a mirror to our own time and warns us that virulent disease, if left unchecked, can easily devastate human civilization. Whether you are living in a time of disease yourself or not, you owe it to yourself to read this book about one of the greatest natural disasters to befall humanity.

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Review: Joan of Arc: A History

Joan of Arc: A History by Helen Castor

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Throughout history there have been figures that have risen meteorically only to come crashing to earth very quickly. In all of medieval European history, no figure rose so dramatically or fell so quickly as Joan of Arc, the teenage peasant girl who claimed to hear voices from angels and saints and rallied the battered French forces against the invading English. And despite her precipitous fall, few other figures from this time have endured in popular imagination. So, who was she, what exactly did she do, and was she the real deal or a delusional peasant? In this book, Helen Castor seeks to inject some flesh and blood into this enduring myth.

If this is your first time reading about Joan of Arc, it is important to note that this book is not a straight, cradle-to-grave biography. This book rather puts Joan in her historical context by going all the way back to the invasion of France by that equally famous figure from this period, King Henry V of England, and proceeding from there. In the first act, Ms. Castor shows how, through the English invasion and internal divisions of the French court, much of northern France fell into English hands. This is incredibly valuable context, but it can be rather complicated too. There is a great deal of medieval politics and backstabbing going on that Ms. Castor does not always do a great job of explaining. The point Ms. Castor makes by the end though is that things look incredibly bleak for the French by the time Joan arrives at court.

When Joan does arrive and the French decide to give her an army, things dramatically change. Joan lifts the siege of the critical city of Orleans and begins to push the English back with a handful of victories that look something akin to miracles. Ms. Castor does a great job of explaining how Joan, a teenage peasant girl with no military experience claiming to hear messages from God, got an audience with the Dauphin and began to push the English back, but she doesn't do a great job of explaining why the French would entrust her with an army in the first place. At the same time, to preserve the linear story she is telling about this period in history, Ms. Castor doesn't tell us anything about Joan's background until her capture and trial at the hands of the English. On top of that, one of the more frustrating parts about his book is the fact that there are no campaign or battle maps included. There is only one map that shows the status quo in France just prior to Joan's arrival at court. While it is a detailed map, I found myself having to refer to that one map over and over again and not always finding where everyone was. Even some simple black and white maps inserted into the text would've helped a great deal.

The last major aspect of Joan's story Ms. Castor deals with is her trial, execution, and then retrial decades later. The popular myth of Joan's trial is that it was a hit job designed to pass a guilty verdict upon a girl who had become such a nuisance to the English so quickly. The story Ms. Castor relates though is one where the jurists were deadly serious about Joan's potential heresy and genuinely were trying to correct her error and save her soul and her life. Though things do not end well for Joan, her retrial decades later casts aspersions on that first trial. Thus, by the end of the book, I was left with two contradictory thoughts about Joan's trial, that it was both a preordained hit job and a sincere search for the truth of her claims. Ms. Castor does not really giver her own analysis and opinions about the whole matter, leaving it up to the reader to decide for themselves.

Ultimately, this book is a great introduction to the period. By the end of it, I had a better understanding of the times Joan lived in and just how vital a role she played in turning back the English invasion, even though she only campaigned for a little over a year and would not live to see France recovered by the French. And yet, I still feel as though there were big gaps left unexplained. Ms. Castor doesn't do enough to dispel the confusion that reigned prior to Joan's arrival. And while a great deal of Joan's history is answered in this book, I am still left with a great number of questions, the biggest one being whether or not Joan was the real deal, a person who was chosen by God to deliver France from the English, or just a delusional peasant girl. Ms. Castor never even attempts to answer that question and, perhaps, there is no definitive answer to that question. Still, an attempt at answering that question would've been nice. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in reading an introduction to Joan of Arc and her times. Just don't expect all of your questions to be answered by the end of it.

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