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cyrthedeer 's review for:
The Great Mortality
by John Kelly
I believe I am being pretty kind to this book by giving it 2.5 stars, and some of this is nostalgia.
The book is, admittedly, not without some merit. John Kelly is a fair writer, and it is a very readable book. Coming out of a bachelors and masters in history, it is nice to have a break from that type of academic writing, which can get dry and have no regard for the audience, even if the audience is other historians. This book is a good introduction to the Black Death, and was one I read very early on in my studies of Medieval history and disease history. It is engaging and well put together, but that is about the best I can say for it.
While Kelly clearly put effort into his research, he does choose to play fast and loose with the facts in multiple places. I would take this book with a grain of salt, because even if it is not necessarily rife with falsehoods, he has a flair for the dramatic that is not always appropriate when teaching about historical events. I am being a bit vague here because some part of me does want people to read this if they are interested in a starting point to learning about the Black Death, but it is not the most accurate piece out there. It's a solidly okay book for someone without a history background who wants to learn more about the Black Death, and it is a book I have kept for sentimental reasons. But for a more comprehensive overview, I would suggest following it with "The Black Death: 1346-1355 The Complete History" by Ole J. Benedictow.
The book is, admittedly, not without some merit. John Kelly is a fair writer, and it is a very readable book. Coming out of a bachelors and masters in history, it is nice to have a break from that type of academic writing, which can get dry and have no regard for the audience, even if the audience is other historians. This book is a good introduction to the Black Death, and was one I read very early on in my studies of Medieval history and disease history. It is engaging and well put together, but that is about the best I can say for it.
While Kelly clearly put effort into his research, he does choose to play fast and loose with the facts in multiple places. I would take this book with a grain of salt, because even if it is not necessarily rife with falsehoods, he has a flair for the dramatic that is not always appropriate when teaching about historical events. I am being a bit vague here because some part of me does want people to read this if they are interested in a starting point to learning about the Black Death, but it is not the most accurate piece out there. It's a solidly okay book for someone without a history background who wants to learn more about the Black Death, and it is a book I have kept for sentimental reasons. But for a more comprehensive overview, I would suggest following it with "The Black Death: 1346-1355 The Complete History" by Ole J. Benedictow.