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oyceterAlas, another non-fiction book I'm slightly disappointed in because it wasn't what I was expecting. I'm never quite sure if it's fair or not to judge a book because my expectations have been disappointed. I mean, I read things because of what I think they will be, but one should also judge a book by what it actually is instead of what one wants it to be.
Anyway. I thought the book would be more of a historical accounting of how the Black Death swept through Europe and decimated it, with a nice analytical look at the effects it had on a broad scale throughout society. The book mostly skips over the actual happenings of the plague and focuses more on the aftermath, which makes sense, what with the title and all. It takes some snapshot looks at how the plague affected individual lives, from Princess Joan of England to the clergyman Thomas Bradwardine. I don't think I'm quite so used to this manner of history, particularly when the microscopic looks at the plague's effects aren't cushioned by some sort of gigantic society-wide analysis. It wasn't so much the scope. It was more that he used this scope and jumped around using it to look at various aspects of society that the plague affected. So I felt like I was only seeing tiny snapshots of a giant impact, instead of closely following the impact of the plague on a tiny portion of society, or looking at society as a whole.
It was eminently readable, though, and Cantor has a sense of humor, which helped a lot.
But.. well, I wanted to know how the plague made its way through Europe and to read about all the devastation it caused, and Cantor was more interested in telling me how it may have affected society in the long term.
Anyway. I thought the book would be more of a historical accounting of how the Black Death swept through Europe and decimated it, with a nice analytical look at the effects it had on a broad scale throughout society. The book mostly skips over the actual happenings of the plague and focuses more on the aftermath, which makes sense, what with the title and all. It takes some snapshot looks at how the plague affected individual lives, from Princess Joan of England to the clergyman Thomas Bradwardine. I don't think I'm quite so used to this manner of history, particularly when the microscopic looks at the plague's effects aren't cushioned by some sort of gigantic society-wide analysis. It wasn't so much the scope. It was more that he used this scope and jumped around using it to look at various aspects of society that the plague affected. So I felt like I was only seeing tiny snapshots of a giant impact, instead of closely following the impact of the plague on a tiny portion of society, or looking at society as a whole.
It was eminently readable, though, and Cantor has a sense of humor, which helped a lot.
But.. well, I wanted to know how the plague made its way through Europe and to read about all the devastation it caused, and Cantor was more interested in telling me how it may have affected society in the long term.
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