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The Black Death cover art

The Black Death

By: John Hatcher
Narrated by: Geoffrey Centlivre
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Summary

In this fresh approach to the history of the Black Death, John Hatcher, a world-renowned scholar of the Middle Ages, recreates everyday life in a mid-14th century rural English village.

By focusing on the experiences of ordinary villagers as they lived - and died - during the Black Death (A.D. 1345 - 50), Hatcher vividly places the listener directly into those tumultuous years and describes in fascinating detail the day-to-day existence of people struggling with the tragic effects of the plague. Dramatic scenes portray how contemporaries must have experienced and thought about the momentous events - and how they tried to make sense of it all.

©2009 John Hatcher (P)2009 Audible, Inc.
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

Critic reviews

"This book uses a bit of fiction, mixing it with [Hatcher's] vast knowledge to illuminate that catastrophe." (Bookviews.com)
"The core of the story - the plague's effect on the lives of everyday people - is as true as can be surmised, nearly 700 years later." ( Cleveland Plain Dealer)

What listeners say about The Black Death

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • GK
  • 30-07-11

Black Death? What Black Death?

I've listened to 3 hours of this and so far the black death hasn't even been mentioned. All there has been is a long and dull account of a priest's life story and an even longer and duller death scene (not from the plague). It is too dry to be called good fiction writing, and despite the author's intention to focus the story around a "good" priest I am so far apathetic towards him and certainly have no warm feelings for this main character. I could easily forgive the bad story-telling part if it was a good historical book but so far I'm finding that it's not. Unless you are interested in the minute details of a Catholic death scene in the 14th century you won't find anything of interest, at least in the first 3 hours of this audiobook.

This is a small point, but I don't know what possessed the publishers to have an American narrate a story about a Medieval East Anglican village??

I'm really disappointed and wish I had not downloaded this.

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16 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Unusual combination of history with fictional seasoning

Very good history, while combined with fictional dialogue. This is NOT historical fiction. It is good solid history, with a smattering of character development. This is a very creative, yet honest approach to a period where dialogue does not exist.

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2 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Economic consequences of Black Death

Long winded account of the effects of the plague on the economy of the middle ages. Well written and informative but don't expect an in depth history of the plague.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Fascinating

I really enjoyed this book.
A clever mixture of fact and faction and very informative.
I’ve listened a few times.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Instructive

hearing this at what, we hope, is towards the end of the Covid Pandemic (?). We are very fortunate to live in the 21st rather than the 14th century, please thankful for that..
My only criticism of the narration is the American pronunciation of dates - the author may be American but the ‘venue’ is English. Otherwise, great.

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