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by John Kelly, 344 pp, $25.95, ISBN 0-06-000692-7, New York, NY, HarperCollinsPublishers, 2005.

JAMA. 2005;293:1524.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

The 14th-century plague that decimated the medieval world left indelible marks on the European psyche, culture, and genome (in the form of the CCR5-32 deletion allele, which today confers some resistance to HIV). Centuries later, the memories of that infectious apocalypse were still so compelling that the Travelers Insurance Co included the plague in their 1964 New York World’s Fair exhibit "The Triumph of Man." The exhibit’s 13 historical audiovisual dioramas depicted humanity’s ascent from the African plains to outer space. The eighth exhibit, entitled "The Black Death," was a reminder of just how rocky and uncertain was that ascent.

Today, the medieval apocalypse continues to evoke study and fascination in the form of numerous new books on the Black Death and reemerging bubonic plague. The latest addition to the literature of pandemic plague is John Kelly’s The Great Mortality.

Kelly, the author of numerous nonfiction works, seems . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Edward McSweegan, PhD, Reviewer
Crofton, Md
emcsweegan@verizon.net

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