[MR] Black Death

[Peter Larson]

Hello Genevieve,

I do not know much about the scientific side of the plague (I study the 
social effects); however, I do have some suggestions on where to start 
looking.  The current historical synthesis on the plague is Ole Benedictow, 
_The Black Death 1346-1353: The Complete History_ (Boydell & Brewer 2004). 
As a history, it is far from complete; however, it incorporates some current 
thinking about the plague, and it has an extensive bibliography, with many 
medical works. Benedictow himself has written on some of the epidemiological 
aspects in some articles. Going through his biblio should provide all you 
need and more.

Another place to start is Norman Cantor's book on the Black death (the title 
of which escapes me). I cannot recommend the book itself -as history goes, 
it is poor and biased - however Cantor does describe some of the alternative 
theories (anthrax etc.)  and you can get the references to some articles 
there.  You should look at the alternative theories, but keep in mind that 
they have not been widely accepted by historians, so be careful with any 
discussion of these not in a scholarly journal - you might get "conspiracy 
theory" type discussions rather than scientific debate.

If you can get a hold of these, that would be an excellent place to find 
more specialised works on epidemiology and so on. Feel free to contact me 
off list if you need further references.

Geoffrey Hawkwood
aka
Dr. Peter Larson
Department of History
Kenyon College



>------------------------------
>
>Message: 2
>D

ate: Thu, 30 Mar 2006 11:30:41 -0500
>From: Jennifer Dobyns <jendobyns at verizon.net>
>Subject: [MR] looking for plague research
>To: Atlantia at atlantia.sca.org
>Message-ID: <7798E1D6-09A2-4118-9281-5AC2101C6272 at verizon.net>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed
>
>Greetings unto the Tavern!
>
>I know there are probably experts on this subject in the SCA and
>thought perhaps they might be able to provide some direction.  I am
>planning a presentation on the plague (yersenia pestis) and am
>looking for solid, academic resources on the bacteria, how it works
>on the cellular,even molecular level, how it is treated, etc.
>Wikipedia just won't do for this audience, I need medical journals
>and research papers, information with some sort of peer review.
>While I'll be digging around in local libraries (I'm in the Baltimore-
>Washington area) and online, any suggestions for serious references
>would be greatly appreciated.   And of course, after all this is
>pulled together and presented, I will be happy to share it with
>anyone interested in seeing the end product.
>
>YIS,
>
>Genevieve D'Aubigne
>
>

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