Daily life during the Black Death

Adult/High School-As with all titles in this series, readers can expect to find far more than what people ate, how they dressed, and what work they undertook. The authors dig deep into the religious, economic, and political structures of the given societies. The arts, crafts, education, and family patterns are all thoroughly represented. Readers who come to Byrne's book with a vague notion of some bad sickness spreading across Europe during the Middle Ages will put it down with a full awareness of the horror of the flesh-destroying pestilence of the Plague, or "King Death." The second title is arranged geographically, starting with the peoples of the eastern woodlands and working westward through the Ohio Valley, the Southwest, and on to California and the Pacific Northwest. The Native American story is one of constant adjustments to ever-more-pressing dangers and adversity. And in that respect it is similar to the story of Europeans during the era of the Black Death. Both books expertly portray the lives of peoples under enormous strain to maintain a semblance of the normalcy implied by the term "daily life." Each volume comes with a full complement of strong scholarship, including extensive notes, bibliographies, chronologies, illustrations, and excerpts from original sources. The prose and general composition suggest a laudable and consistently high level of editing. These volumes are both recommended for teens with strong reading skills and a background in history.-Robert Saunderson, Berkeley Public Library, CA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.