offers an insightful and rather frightening exploration of medieval medicine. “John Kelly combines the skills of a medical writer with those of a historian. He endows The Great Mortality with the sheer immediacy ancient history yields to only a few.” - Houston Chronicle Kelly combines distinguished scholarship in the science, medicine and European history meets some of the world’s darkest days as if he were a forensic sleuth who must first re-create the ambience of the victims’ world before tracking down their deaths. It’s a frightening reminder of what could happen today.” - Nelson DeMille, The Birmingham News “A fascinating account of the plague that swept Europe and Asia in the 14th century, killing about half the population. Kelly has written a popular history based on the best scholarship available, and written it very well indeed.” - Detroit Free Press (4 out of 4 stars) that give the reader an intimate sense of day-to-day life in medieval Europe.” - Michiko Kakutani, New York Times “John Kelly gives the reader a ferocious, pictorial account of the horrific ravages of plague…an emotionally accessible narrative, animated by wrenchingly vivid tableaus and alarming first-hand witness accounts.

John Kelly, who holds a graduate degree in European history, is the author and coauthor of ten books on science, medicine, and human behavior, including Three on the Edge, which Publishers Weekly called the work of “an expert storyteller.” He lives in New York City. The Great Mortality is a gripping and unforgettable look back at a time when many thought they were witnessing the end of the world. He also presents evidence that the illness that so devastated two continents was not bubonic or pneumonic plague at all, but something entirely different. Drawing on contemporary letters and chronicles, Kelly brings to life the world of the Plague - a world filled with fear, violence, bravery, greed and unselfish charity. John Kelly chronicles the origins and development of this devastating epidemic, from its origins in Central Asia to its spread eastward to China and westward to Europe, eventually spreading as far as Portugal and Scandinavia. No one was spared - children, the elderly, and those in the prime of life were struck down with equal ferocity by the illness known as the Black Plague. An intruder crept across Europe and Asia, striking with little warning and killing a full third of the population.

1347 marked a watershed in the history of the Middle Ages.

John kelly author the great mortality