The Black Death
A Personal History
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
£0.00 for first 30 days
The Black Death
Buy Now for £21.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Geoffrey Centlivre
-
By:
-
John Hatcher
About this listen
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.Listeners also enjoyed...
Critic reviews
"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
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars
-
Story4 out of 5 stars
- Monotone
- 30-11-21
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.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Emma
- 28-08-22
Fascinating
I really enjoyed this book.
A clever mixture of fact and faction and very informative.
I’ve listened a few times.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars
-
Performance3 out of 5 stars
-
Story4 out of 5 stars
- gill
- 20-04-21
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.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- J. Wexler
- 30-09-19
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.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- David_Cockayne
- 08-04-24
Outstanding
This work combines expert analysis with carefully constructed narrative. John Hatcher is a professor of History at Cambridge, so he knows of what he writes. It is a cliché to say that an author brings the history to life - but he does! He adds life to to the shocking but inevitably dry data of that culling of humanity of the Black Death. One also sees the seeds of the ending of the feudal system, its replacement by the market, and the emergence of Protestantism.
For those who care for an honest interpretation of the past based on the known facts, rather than sensationalism or pandering to modern prejudices, this is the way history should be written.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall1 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.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
16 people found this helpful