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Return of the Black Death: The World's Greatest Serial Killer
 
 
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Return of the Black Death: The World's Greatest Serial Killer (Hardcover)

by Susan Scott (Author), Christopher Duncan (Author) "Then a boil developed on their thighs, or on their upper arms a boil... This infected the whole body, so that the patient violently vomited..." (more)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
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Product details

  • Hardcover: 318 pages
  • Publisher: John Wiley & Sons; 1st edition (7 May 2004)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0470090006
  • ISBN-13: 978-0470090008
  • Product Dimensions: 21.4 x 14.2 x 3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 363,885 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #26 in  Books > History > Britain & Ireland > Black Death
    #99 in  Books > Health, Family & Lifestyle > Medical & Healthcare Practitioners > Other Branches of Medicine > Forensics

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  • See Complete Table of Contents

Product Description

Review

“… a piece of astonishing medical detective work…” (Observer, 16 May 2004)

“… a good account of the history of the three great plagues.” (Nature, 8th July 2004)

“… a compelling read…” (NewScientist.com, July 2004)

“Using documents of unimaginably diverse provenance, Susan Scott and Christopher Duncan assume the role of ‘plague detectives’.” (The Lancet, July 2004)

“…a compelling read…” (New Scientist, July 04)

“…humour, accessible style and gripping disgust–factor…well written…a rare achivement…” (Lancet, July 04)



Review

“… a piece of astonishing medical detective work…” (Observer, 16 May 2004)

“With gruesome details of the disease and its consequences, this is not for the squeamish.” (Good Book Guide, June 2004)

“…a valuable reference…” (Western Daily Press, 19th June 04)

“… a good account of the history of the three great plagues.” (Nature, 8th July 2004)

“… a compelling read…” (NewScientist.com, July 2004)

“Using documents of unimaginably diverse provenance, Susan Scott and Christopher Duncan assume the role of ‘plague detectives’.” (The Lancet, July 2004)

“…a compelling read…” (New Scientist, July 04)

“…humour, accessible style and gripping disgust–factor…well written…a rare achivement…” (Lancet, July 04)

See all Product Description
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Then a boil developed on their thighs, or on their upper arms a boil... This infected the whole body, so that the patient violently vomited blood. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Return of the Black Death: The World's Greatest Serial Killer
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Customer Reviews

11 Reviews
5 star:
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3 star:
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2 star:    (0)
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Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely Gripping - a real eyeopener too!, 18 Oct 2005
By A Customer
This review is from: Return of the Black Death: The World's Greatest Serial Killer (Paperback)
This book is completely un-putdownable. A fantastic piece of detective work, tracing the origins, progress and final extinction of the Black Death that swept through Europe in waves throughout the centuries, interlaced with human stories and real sympathy with the immense suffering endured by many thousands of its victims. It was not bubonic plague at all, but haemorrhagic plague that decimated whole countries - a truly horrifying and thankfully extinct virus that was uncontrollable and invincible. It's infectious incubation period of about 30 days ensured it spread far and wide before sufferers were even aware they had it.Forget about all you heard about fleas and rats. Had it been bubonic plague, there would have been much less to worry about! The authors finally speculate on what comes next, and how would we deal with it (bird flu???)and what is the most gruesome disease we can die of today (has to be ebola!). A truly great book, and one to make us think.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Thought provoking, 8 Jul 2006
This review is from: Return of the Black Death: The World's Greatest Serial Killer (Paperback)
A real eye opener. To find out the the black plague was not bubonic as commongly thought, but a haemorrhagic plague that killed not only thousands in the Uk, but millions world-wide. This plague returned to decimate entire cities time and time again over a period of 400 years or more, finally seeming to disappear around the early 18th century. Or is it just in hiding?
The book is well written and interesting and does not baffle you too much with science.
Haemorrhagic plague (I am reliably informed by the book!) is a very nasty little disease to catch. Like Ebola, the sufferer literally bleeds to death and his/her insides rot away, turning to liquid. The symptons of haemorrahgic plague are very similar to that of bubonic plague with the black `spots' or bubis being the blood showing under the skin. The final horrible, visible stages of the disease through to death are very painful and the sufferer experiences flu like symptons, vomiting blood, and diarrhea and finally falls into a coma. According to the book some sufferers were in so much pain that it drove them mad and they would throw themselves into the street screaming or even out of windows in a bid to escape the pain. These final symptons take place over a few days (from 5 to 12) and at present there is no known cure.
The authors set out to prove that the black death was caused by hemorrhagic plague, by showing the following differences: that the incubation and infectious period was a lot longer in heamorrhagic plague (approx 32 days) whereas the incubation period was a lot shorter in bubonic plague only 2 to 6 days. Therefore haemorrahagic plague was able to spread a lot wider as the killer symptoms only appeared in the final days of the disease and before that, the sufferer to all intents and purposes, seemed completely healthy. Bubonic plague is typically spread by rats and in accurate reports of bubonic plague, the biggest casualty is the rats themselves, no large number of dead rats were reported in the cases of the black death. Finally the black death spread over a large area very quickly, this would not have been possible if it had been spread by rats due to the short incubation period. It was more likely to have been spread by humans who traveled quickly on horseback and by carriage.
The final chapters look at the possibility of when it will return to Europe and look at what is likely to happen to the infrastructure when it does hit in large numbers. The authors believe that when it does reoccur, the only way to stop the spread is by quarantining large numbers of people, as there is no cure. These people are likely to die, but at least it will contain the disease. A nice thought to leave you with!!!

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Great detective work, 28 Sep 2006
By Stefan Kiebooms (Antwerp, Belgium) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Return of the Black Death: The World's Greatest Serial Killer (Paperback)
The return of the Black Death tries to give an overview of the spread of the the Plague during the middle ages and renaissance and tries to bedunk history with regards to the prevalent theories on the cause of this epidemic. And I must say it does it very well. It's a good history read with a healthy dose of science and rationality sprinkled on top. The writing style is engaging and understandable, even for a layman.

What most struck me is the amount of panic a small epidemic, like SARS, can generate in our modern world and how a major epidemic like HIV/AIDS, which kills millions per year, gets, relatively speaking, so little attention.

A recommended read and a real eye-opener.
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 		 Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Repeats itself a bit
I found this a wee bit disappointing.
Some great accounts of the plague from public records, yes. Read more
Published 4 months ago by David L

3.0 out of 5 stars Dissapointing
The black death usually came to a town via a stranger, incubation was 37 days whereby half the population died and many more fled in panic to neighbouring towns. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Mel from Herts

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating read, someone needs to re-write the history books!
This is compelling reading and undeniably a better explanation for 'the plague'. However if it is true, history should be re-written and the world health organisation needs to sit... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Jane Eyre

4.0 out of 5 stars Important and interesting but flawed
This is in historical point of huge interest and potential importance. The idea that bubonic plague caused the Black Death is one that refuses to die, despite the clear and... Read more
Published 12 months ago by C. Lee

5.0 out of 5 stars No living happily ever after
"Compelling", a quote attributed to New Scientist says prominently on the cover. And it is. In both senses. Read more
Published 17 months ago by possiblejersey

5.0 out of 5 stars A Good Shake-Up
The Government's own Health advice web site states that Plague is caused by Yersinia pestis, the bacterium transmitted along the infamous rat-flea-human route... Read more
Published 23 months ago by Capt John Rowlands

4.0 out of 5 stars Extremely interesting and viable theory
Think you 'know' about the fourteenth century plague ? It was ALL caused by the bubonic plague from rats - wasn't it ? Read more
Published on 8 Mar 2006 by Josi Martin

5.0 out of 5 stars Everyone should read this book!
I bought this book to while away the hours of a long train journey subject to endless delays. Little did I know that it would turn out to be one of the most stimulating, exciting... Read more
Published on 24 Jun 2004

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