Famine and pestilence must have been a recurring nightmare from late antiquity onwards. The author cites a Margaret Atwood essay in which she suggests that all narrative writing is motivated deep down by a fear and fascination with mortality. He explores the bleakness of late an…
"This book presents the first analytical account in English of the history of subsistence crises and epidemic diseases in Late Antiquity. Based on an catalogue of all such events in the East Roman/Byzantine empire between 284 and 750, it gives an authoritative analysis of the ca…
"Plague, a devastating and recurring affliction throughout the Renaissance, had a major impact on European life. Not only was pestilence a biological problem, but it was also read as a symptom of spiritual degeneracy and it caused widespread social disorder. Assembling a picture…
"Although Western societies cannot escape from images of famine in the present world, their direct experience with widespread hunger has receded into the past. England was one of the very first countries to escape from the shadow of famine and in this volume, a team of distingui…
"Although Western societies cannot escape from images of famine in the present world, their direct experience with widespread hunger has receded into the past. England was one of the very first countries to escape from the shadow of famine and in this volume, a team of distingui…