The great mortality : an intimate history of the Black Death, the most devastating plague of all time / John Kelly

Includes bibliographical references and index.

It was probably caused by Y. pestis on fleas feasting on R. rattus and then on H. sapiens. It destroyed all life in some places, for it killed all the domestic animals as well as the human residents. It also probably saved Europe from a marginal existence by creating a free market economy. Kelly describes how the Black Death killed about a third of the population of Europe, how individuals attempted to out-run or out-think it, how the Church coped as those it dedicated to caring for the victims died beside them, and how the reduction in the population increased the value of labor and thereby improved the economic lot of the survivors. He also describes how plague deniers are coming up with new ideas about likely diseases, and how modern epidemics relate to conditions that led to the Black Death.