Bubonic-Plague Books

This enlightening research burns like a torch and illuminates one of the darker periods of history. Totaro insightfully details how the horrific plagues of old influenced the literature and challenged the philosphies of their time. Like a great teacher, Totaro offers something for everyone. From the casual reader to the curious scholar, this book, will inform, enlighten, and amaze its reader. Suprisingly, Totaro uncovers new and fascinating information that will certainly provoke interest in all who read it. The mysteries of the past are vividly brought back to life by the author's use of intriguing illustrations, contemporary quotations, and astonishing historical facts. This book's sobering historical lessons seem to awaken us to our vulnerablilites as we witness contemporary reports of outbreaks, drug resistant infections, and biological weapons of mass destruction. We would do well to remember, revisit, and reconsider the lives of those who endured one of the most extraordinary eras through their haunting historical record, which Totaro has so astutely presented in this book.

Suffering in Paradise, Rebecca Rotaro's brilliant analysis of the bubonic plague in Early Modern England, demonstrates how that devastating disease influenced and articulated to the work of the most important writers of the time: More, Shakespeare, Milton. Rotaro's insightful and fresh readings shed new light on the despair, suffering, hope, and response of the English people during repeated episodes of the plague. The book will be an attractive addition to the library of those who study and teach the history of medicine, those who focus on plague, and the general reader with an interest in the history and literature of the period.

Larry Zaroff, M.D., Ph.D.
Stanford University
Consulting Professor
School of Medicine & Program in Human Biology
Senior Research Scholar   Center for Biomedical Ethics

The development of the characters during the months of plague is rich and well-explored. The contrasting viewpoints of each character drive home Camus' ideas. I can't recommend it more

if you like to feel depressed, then by all means read this book....it is dark and imaginary smells are those of death....yuk....totally discusting.

In light of the constant scare of chemical warfare we are faced with in this age where even the barbarians in the middle east have access to technology, this book still has much to offer.
There is one major theme in this novel and that is stay maintain a level head. Many of the casualties in the story are victimized by their own fear and irrational actions. From the rushed and fatal antidote to the brutallity inside the quarantined city.
This book also holds relevence to the fear that had gripped society in the 80's with the AIDS scare.

To an extent, all of Camus' novels are vehicles for his philosophy. Camus' philosophy begins with a simple idea, that life is absurd. Camus did not believe in God -- did not believe human actions hold any ultimate higher meaning -- he thought "death would undermine the value of anything that precedes it." From this, Camus drew that life was "absurd." In The Stranger, Camus illustrates this principle of the absurd. Only towards the end of The Stranger does Camus bring up another point in his worldview, and that is, that life is worth living. In The Plague, Camus introduces a concept he called "Revolt"; that is, revolting against the absurdity and meaningless of existence. It seems like an oxymoron, but here Camus wants to try to make sense of an absurd life.

There you have a brief overview of Camus' philosophical ideas. In the Plague, Camus briefly criticizes the Catholic Church. If you are a Christian who is particularly sensative to opposing world-views, you may find Camus' non-faith to be offensive. With an open mind, however, it is likely you will find much said by Camus that is true. Actually, this book often feels a lot like a christian parable.

If you want a straight and simple story as opposed to Camus' philosophical ideal laced story, then you might look elsewhere. Still, read the rest of my review. You may find the plot, which I will discuss next, is something that interests you regardless of philosophy.

The city of Oran is quarantined due to the outbreak of a deadly plague. No one is allowed to leave or enter. The narrative focuses on a handful of people living in the quarantined city, as well as on the general conditions of life in Oran while the plague wreaks havoc. Actually, the native begins just before the plot, and ends shortly after the quarantine is lifted. The characters discuss life during plague conditions. Their activities range from writing a book, to trying to escape, to discussing football, above all, the main focus is given to combating the plague. About the Oran--bureaucracy, religion, burial procedures, and quarantine conditions are popular plot points, as is attempting to define the general outlook of the populous during the hard times of Plague infestation. One of his common themes is separation from a loved one.

I hope I have been of some help. Personally, I find Camus' ideas to be captivating. I loved the Stranger and the Plague, and look forward to reading more of his books soon. Although the Plague reaches farther than the Stranger, I cannot conclude that it is the better of the two novels. Personally, I felt Stranger to be more to my liking; Stranger felt more natural and therefore more complete as a novel; whereas the people, places, and events of The Plague felt constructed as if only for novelistic purposes.

I strongly suggest you at least look at this The Plague, The Fall, Exile and the Kingdom, and Selected Essays (Everyman's Library) before you buy the Plague, or any other work by Albert Camus. Thought it is Five Dollars more expensive, it includes 4 books and 2 essays (The Plague, The Fall, Exile, Myth of Sisyphus, and Reflections on the Guillotine) and a helpfull introduction from David Bellos. It draws from two translators (Gilbert and O'Brien) and has a durrable cloth bound frame that should outlast any paperback.

In the 21st century we expect to control and conquer disease. How can we imagine the horror of The Plague? Albert Camus gave us a chilling story, set in the Algerian city of Oran. First the rats bleed and die, and then people begin to fall sick with the dreaded bubonic plague. As the weekly death toll rises, officials seal off the city and the long exile begins.

The hospitals fill up and public buildings are requisitioned for makeshift plague wards. Quarantine camps are established. The usual burial arrangements are inadequate so the corpses are eventually interred in communal graves without the presence of mourners.

The narrator is unnamed until the end. The central character is Dr. Rieux who goes about his rounds of caring and organizing, somehow able to carry on in the absurd atmosphere of death, exile, deprivation and bereavement. "There lay certitude, there in the daily round...The thing was to do your job as it should be done."

The other characters find their own way of carrying on -- the civil servant in pursuit of the perfect opening sentence for his book, the priest preaching God's flail of retribution, the journalist on assignment when the city is was sealed and now frantic to escape to his wife, the fearful criminal living for the first time in a community of fear, the vacationer sharing his passion for collective responsibility with Dr. Rieux one starry night.

Of course The Plague is about an epidemic only on its most superficial level. Camus, Algerian-born himself, was a committed anti-totalitarian fresh from the French Resistance in 1947 when THE PLAGUE was published. His characters act out his personal philosophy in the absurdist 1940s world: they keep doing the right thing while believing that it won't make a difference, while knowing that to do anything else is to be complicit in the wickedness of the world. The book is easy to read but much more challenging to think about, which makes a good case for the reading.

Linda Bulger, 2008

Feldinger's book illuminates a relatively unknown outbreak of pneumonic plague in early 20th century Los Angeles. Where this book really shines is in its source scholarship and extensive quotes from primary sources. Feldinger does a good job in helping us understand how this outbreak could occur and (even more interestingly) how Los Angeles civic authorities at all levels acted in concert to keep the citizens of Los Angeles almost completely ignorant of the danger they faced.

Where I think this book loses its way is in its need to find heroes and villians in a situation that could also be explained by a people acting largely in their own self intest. Early in the book, Feldinger himself admits how hard he had to look to find a "hero" in the events in question. This is not to say that the schoolteacher he ends up lionizing did not act with empathy and intelligence, but rather that once you have a hero you have to have villians. And Feldinger sees vilians everywhere from public health officials, to the city council and to businessmen who respond to the epidemic by firing all their "Mexican" labor. In trying to make his book seem current, Feldinger also litters the piece with references to Hurrican Katrina, Vietnam and quite tellingly to the Swine Flu "scare" of the 70s. I encourage the interested reader to examine the chapter on the Ford Administration's response to the Swine Flu outbreak in Laurie Garrett's "The Coming Plague" to see how much more nuanced the government's thinking was around Swine Flu than Feldinger seems to think it was. Perhaps if Feldinger had read this assessment, he might have attributed less black and white motivations to the participants.

While I would have preferred a more scholarly and less journalistic approach, I recommend Feldinger's book to any reader interested in the ways people and governments react to the outbreak of a deadly disease prior to our own "information age".

Feldinger mines history with mordant wit, strikes the mother lode of deceit and official cover-up, and touches raw nerve in this dandy read. A journalist, Feldinger isn't out to make friends, especially of the Los Angeles Times scions. The truth is unimaginable, but the author backs up his power-packed story with considerable evidence, from both private sources and public domain. Feldinger's done his homework, and the results carry a sobering punch. This credible work profiles an event that stretches man's inhumanity to the limit. It couldn't have happened, but it did. Readers are left humbled by knowing Black Plague, hoping never to experience it. We are compelled to acknowledge mortality. The book holds interest because it speaks truth - there's no doubt the plague will return. The truth frightens but makes good reading.

A primer of how not to protect a population, "A Slight Epidemic" is of a piece with sad chapters of US history and great exposes of hard journalism. Through his fine book Frank Feldinger has provided a public service.

Weak, self-serving, irresponsible representatives ignore their mandate to protect the public in favor of institutional loyalty. Decades ago, a deliberate coverup cost people their lives, citizens their homes, threatened a huge swath of the population. This well-researched, impeccably written, compelling narrative is jaw-dropping. In the wake of Katrina, with the threat of a public health disaster like bird flu looming, every citizen should be aware of what happened then and how government incompetence and malfeasance threatened the lives of so many people. A must-read.

Great...another egregious government cover-up, but by page two I was wishing for a bag of popcorn, instantly engaged and casting a future screenplay in my head! Corruption, control, greed and ego are disgusting traits I'd rather not attribute to my country, yet I can't help feeling ecstatic when the covers get ripped off the bed, exposing a self-righteous and fetid government mattress. Author Feldinger made me care about something unpleasant and disturbing when it would be so much easier not to notice. (This guy clearly does his homework and could turn anyone listening around a campfire into an instant mouthbreather!) His style is elegant, wry, and dignified; he seems to have great respect for his readers. I'm not sure if Feldinger writes in ink or chainsaw oil, but either way...it's mightier than the sword! Intelligent and incredibly well-paced. A terrifying must!

Mr. Feldinger is an adept and engaging story-teller, bringing to life a murderous government plot against LA's Latino community near the beginning of the 20th century. It's a non-fiction horror story. Worse, he outlines how it could easily happen again.

The story may be nearly a century old, but the villains still exist today, namely government agencies and a self-serving health care system. LA city health officers willfully misdiagnosed the first cases of bubonic plague in a Latino neighborhood. They were supported and encouraged by bigoted, greedy politicians. As a result numerous lives were lost. In at least one case, nearly an entire extended family was wiped out. Their neighborhood was nearly destroyed in an effort to "cleanse" the area of the disease they denied was there- the bubonic plague.

The book is a gripping account of what does happen, and what should absolutely not happen, in the case of a deadly epidemic. Feldinger breathes life back into people long dead- the villains and the heroes- of this story that has never been fully told

I enjoyed this book. It took me a little while to get into it. He had to set up the main characters so it was 1/3 into the book before it got really exiting. Now as for the technical stuff I did not totally get how the time machine traveled or how he could jump to Mars. That seemed a bit out there that's why 4 stars instead of 5. But I'd still recommend for someone to read how enjoys Science Fiction.

I do like time travel stories, but time travel plays a smaller part in the plot than I expected. Also, the author resorts to a few "deus ex machina" and, at times, the action reminds me of early Flash Gordon comics. Yet, the book is not bad and kept me reading till the end, unexpected twist after twist.

Wow!!! I purchased and read the book in its entirety and loved it!!! Before I purchased the book I read the synopsis and utilized the search inside option... Just what I was looking for in a time travel book. This book is perfect for young adults or those who just love a good time travel book. Its a mixture of romance, action and adventure.

The story line is very easy to follow from start to finish. Professionally written and professionally edited. A great book that would make a great movie.

"The Time Travelers Academy"

A secret training academy that teaches time travel. The hero challenges the grandfather paradox to go back in time and save his fiancé from a tragedy but an unknown aspect of the grandfather paradox stipulates: Something in nature will stop the time traveler from changing the past.

I loved the story line about the "eliminators" entities that will stop a time travelers from changing the past. The hit movie called the Langoliers had similar but very different entities. The Langoliers' job is to erase moments in time that have already passed into history very different from the "eliminators" but a very good concept.

You'll love the characters they are very believable. Each character was out to achieve something. I cant tell you how it ends all I can say is you will not be disappointed...I highly recommend this book.

This book was not at all what I expected. It is not just another "star trek" sci fiction book. Dark, Complex, and Fun, this novel takes you on a journey that not only creates time travel but explains how it is possible. It is fiction, fantasy and physics all rolled into one. I loved it.

This book contains wonderful coverage of history that most authors gloss over. I enjoyed Mr. Rosen's balance of appreciation for the logical application of science of the day against his social interpretation which gave so much life to the crafted historical narrative.

Maybe it's just because I live in Texas, but I'll bet if you were to ask 1000 random people to describe what happened in the transition between late antiquity and the start of the middle ages, maybe two of them would be able to give a valid answer. This book answers so much.

William Rosen's "Justinian's Flea" is an ambitious attempt to explain the decline of the Byzantine and the Persian Empire and the rise of Islam and the germination of nation states in Europe. Rosen's culprit: the bubonic plague carried by the flea on the backs of black rats. Rosen weaves multiple narratives to explain the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, the rise of Justinian and the Byzantine Empire, the beginning of what would be the country of France, the fall of the Persians and the rise of Islam.

At times, Rosen's work can only be described as history at its best. Rosen skillfully demonstrates that history and the fate of nations does not occur in a vacuum. Rosen is especially adept at demonstrating this interdependence in depicting the the clash between the Persian Empire and the Byzantine Empire over the silk trade with China and the advantage (initially that is) the Persians had because of the outbreak of the plague in the Byzantine Empire.

The undoing of Rosen's work is that it is too short for its ambitious aim. Too many threads are underdeveloped including exactly how and why the Persian Empire collapsed so markedly. His treatment of the plague is adequate but also could have been better. Having read The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time (P.S.) by Thomas Kelly provided nice background on the plague , its transmission and effect. Common to both Kelly's and Rosen's account of the outbreak of the plague was a period of global cooling. Kelly explains the global cooling more convincingly than Rosen.

I truly enjoyed Rosen's work but wish it could have been tighter.

Avoid this book like the plague. I am an avid reader of history and found this book one of the most poorly written history books that I have had the misfortune ever to read. The writer redefines the term pedantic. Historical premises are often followed by a minimum of three pages of material unrelated to the central point. By the time the reader comes back to anything remotely resembling the author's thesis the central point is nearly forgotten.Discussion of the book's central theme does not even occur until page 183. The author rambles on throughout and an editor is sorely needed. There is absolutely no linear flow and the author gaps from one historical period to another so frequently it is almost impossible to determine its relevancy to Byzantium. Beware deeply discounted Amazon book offers...there is a reason

Justinian's Flea: Plague, Empire, and the Birth of Europe
For non-specialists this book is a very hard read.

It is a political and military history of several centuries before and after the reign of Justinian, and includes some of the religious history of the period, as well as the story of the plague. It deals little with the economic and social history of the time. The book describes the migrations, invasions and wars of the successive waves of peoples from Central Asia. These are very difficult to follow in the absence of adequate maps.

Similarly with the succession of emperors and caesars: for readers with only a passing knowledge of the time, the relationships are difficult to unravel and keep in mind in the absence of any table or chart showing chronology and relationships. The battles would have been much more interesting if maps or diagrams were provided.

The story of the plague is interesting in itself with the contemporary accounts quoted, but it does not stand out as compared with other plague literature (e.g . Philip Ziegler's `The Black Death). Interesting too are a number of the vignettes, such as brief story of Khalid the `the Sword of Allah'.

The book seeks to explain why Europe fragmented into many states while China remained united, with the argument that this was considerably due to the relatively greater impact of the plague on the Roman Empire. But it does not examine (for example) whether Europe suffered more waves of invaders than China, or not.

In my view the book does not fulfil its subtitle "Plague: Empire and the Birth of Europe". Perhaps readers with a much better background in the history of the time than I have would appreciate it more than I did. But if written for a much more informed audience, much of the confusing background detail would not have been required.

It took me a while to get into the rhythm of Mr Rosen's writing, but once I did I couldn't put this book down. I was fascinated by the building of the Hagia Sophia, interested in the presentation of the life, times and achievements of the emperor Justinian during the 6th century and engrossed by the possible impact of the flea on the building of empires.

In this book, Mr Rosen provides a number of interpretations which can (and are) debated. People may argue about the role of Justinian, disagree about the relevance of the detail about the Hagia Sophia and prefer different theories about the birthplace of the bubonic plague. Some theories are contentious, and it is not always clear why certain aspects of the discussion are given a particular focus. However, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts and for me the book was well worth reading. Mr Rosen provides plenty of notes for a reader who is seeking more information or who is trying to understand the conclusions Mr Rosen draws.

While it is both true and clever to state that: `Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence', I can understand why some readers find this book dissatisfying. The book is ambitious and may, as others have suggested, have benefitted from more ruthless editing. However, that depends on who Mr Rosen saw as his primary audience. This reader enjoyed the perambulations. If you are interested in this period of history, the life of Justinian, the growth and decline of empires and the relationship between man, rats, fleas and bacteria - you may wish to read this book.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

A.& C. of M. is a fantastic book indeed with it's "ancient" coverage of medical anomilies in one place!! It also had a brief cameo in the movie "The Breakfast Club." However this version of the book (Blue Unicorn Press) has none of the original pictures of which there were over 100 in the original version (late 1800's) and in the reprints during the mid to late 20th century. Unless you only want text, this version may not be for you.

ANOMALIES AND CURIOSITIES OF MEDICINE is a fun romp through the world of weird medicine and freaks. This book, compiled in 1897, is still a shocking text on the world of human oddities. From the fat midget to the alligator-skin boy to the two-headed boy to the rectal foreign bodies, it provides many a night's reading. Of course, the squeamish may be offended or even horrified.