The Scourging Angel: The Black Death in the British Isles by: Benedict Gummer
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8 reviews
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Publisher: The Bodley Head Ltd
Release date: 4th June, 2009
Media: Hardcover
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Rating: 
- review
There were sections of this book that were a joy to read where the content and the style almost sang.
Personally I feel that the book could easily have been 100 pages shorter without detriment. I got the impression that there was an element of "padding out" in order to get to the required size. I was a bit nervous at the beginning to see the almost obsessive use of colons and semi-colons, which, although probably grammatically correct are, in my belief, anachronistic in the 21st Century. However, these declined dramatically after the first chapter. There were still some words that I needed a dictionary for which I found a bit arrogant and unnecessary but I guess thats the "Substance/form" argument
I would like to have seen more visual representations of the The Plague such as, tables, graphs and more illustrations.
I would also liked to have seen more detailed (less narrative)aspects (by dedicated chapters) of the effects on art, economics, literature, religion, government macro-economic policy and foreign policy. A final chapter comparing the 5th, 14th and 17th Century plagues would have been very interesting.
Look, I could not write a book like this. I think Ben Gummer could be a great writer and some of his talent really shines through. I would like to read a book that he is interested in writing rather one that the author has been asked to write. So I will buy the next one. Good luck Ben and write it with passion!
Rating: 
- Outstanding and innovative work of historical scholarship with a gripping narrative
I took this excellent book on my Christmas holiday fully expecting not to get through it completely. How wrong I was. I was totally gripped by every fascinating and intensely well-researched detail, from the hauntingly atmospheric opening line right up until the last word of the powerfully argued epilogue. If you think you know about the Black Death (or "Great Mortality") without having read this book, you don't. It is a totally original and grippingly described take on a subject which it now appears we were all inaccurately taught at school. It picks an audacious fight with the established scientific account of how the Black Death spread so lethally, and, in my view, wins hands down on the evidence as it stands. What's more, in an era of panic about swine flu and SARS, it is a timely reminder of how global pandemics suddenly emerge, spread, kill and disappear. I highly recommend the Scourging Angel to anyone who likes their (medieval) history elegantly told, but also brought alive by detailed and evocative vignettes which read as if they happened yesterday. It definitely gets my vote for any non-fiction prize.
Rating: - Fascinating study
I have to disagree with K Hollywood's comments regarding Gummer's meticulously researched study of the Black Death. Hollywood has clearly failed to read the first chapter where the reader is given a fascinating vignette of the life, work and structure of two 14th Century villages (manors). Feudal obligtions, the agricultural year and movement of the peasantry and those even less fortunate are essential to our understanding of the pestilence. In his concise and sympathetic description of their lives Gummer provides the means by which we understand the Black Death and its devastating consequences.
This is an astonishing achievement for a first-time author and I very much look forward to reading his work in the future. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
- In the dark
Contemporary research often tends to overthrow conventional or previous beliefs about an historical event or theme and this book is no different to others that write on the subject of the Black Death. The fashion for narrative history can become equivalent to Red Top reporting or to re-enactments of past events and to dress them up as 'fact'. Gummer is guilty in these respects in that he writes like a modern, affluent historian who has probably never left his or her desk/computer/library in the conception and research for this book. One has the impression that everyone is relatively well-off, 'urbanised', literate, knowledgeable. Until the 20th century, nothing could be further from the truth. Gummer has fallen into these traps and the fact that he pads it out with interesting critiques on the Hundred Years War suggests he's more interested in English history than specifically the plague. Still, despite many shortcomings, the book is a decent romp through issues raised by the killer disease. Parallels with the current swine flu 'epidemic'? Coincidence surely?
Rating: - The scourging angel
An easy to read book that charts the progress of the Black Death and brings it into focus with the political and social background of the time. The book also discusses the social effects of the aftermath of this plague with the oportunities it gave to peasant workers.
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