Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #661159 in Books
• Published on: 2007-05-28
• Formats: Audiobook, MP3 Audio, Unabridged
• Original language: English
• Binding: MP3 CD

From Publishers Weekly
What might be called "microbial history"—the study of the impact of disease on human events—is a subject that has received great attention in recent years. Rosen's new book follows John Barry's The Great Influenza and John Kelly's The Great Mortality. An editor and publisher for more than a quarter century, Rosen absorbingly narrates the story of how the Byzantine Empire encountered the dangerous Y. pestis in A.D. 542 and suffered a bubonic plague pandemic foreshadowing its more famous successor eight centuries later. Killing 25 million people and depressing the birth rate and economic growth for many generations, this unfortunate collision of bacterium and man would mark the end of antiquity and help usher in the Dark Ages. Rosen is particularly illuminating and imaginative on the "macro" aftereffects of the plague. Thus, the "shock of the plague" would remake the political map north of the Alps by drawing power away from the Mediterranean and Byzantine worlds toward what would become France, Germany and England. Specialist historians may certainly dislike the inevitable reductionism such a broad-brush approach entails, but readers of Collapse and Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond's grand narratives, will find this a welcome addendum. (May 14)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From AudioFile
Described as a chronicle of the collision of the worlds smallest organism with the worlds mightiest power, Rosens work promises a sweeping examination of the Golden Age of Constantinople. Rich in the detail so beloved by fans of historical narrative, the story is as compelling and dramatic as a novel. All of this makes Barrett Whiteners atonal narration that much more disappointing. Whitener has previously won Earphone Awards, leading one to anticipate a performance reflecting the passion, panache, and attitude heralded in the books reviews. But, although his voice is clear, his tone and performance are flat. Whiteners narration does not enhance the experience of listening to this unique historical work. M.O.B. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

From Booklist
Surveying the reign of Emperor Justinian of the Byzantine Empire during the years 527-65, Rosen enlists a range of topics from architecture to conquest to bubonic plague. The latter looms largest in his account, for it wreaked havoc in 542. Justinian's ambition to restore the Roman Empire, going great guns at the time under General Belisarius, came to a halt. The calamity's demographic consequences must have been substantial, too, if uncertain, and Rosen salts his text with speculations about the Byzantine seedlings of Europe's future nations. With more surety, Rosen relays eyewitness descriptions of the Justinian plague, with which he integrates the modern scientific understanding of Yersinia pestis and its carrier, the rat. Before the plague arrived in Constantinople, luckily for Justinian's historical reputation, he had already finished building the Hagia Sophia and codifying Roman law. Deeply steeped in the literature of late antiquity, Rosen wears his erudition lightly as he weaves interpretations into a fluid narrative of the era's geostrategic possibilities before the final onset of the Dark Ages. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Journalistic-Historical Report on Justinian's Reign and the Plague That Attacked Europe and the Middle East
Justinian's Flea tells you about the decay of the Roman Empire, its gradual drift towards its eastern limits, the rise of Justinian, Justinian's accomplishments in expanding the empire and developing culture, the rise of the Persian Empire, the Bubonic Plague that ravaged the Roman and Persian empires, and the challenges that the expansion of Islam brought for the Roman and Persian empires. Mr. Rosen uses that information to argue that independent European nations developed sooner than they might have otherwise due to the combined effects of the plague and Islamic military expansion.

Most people know about the Black Death (caused by Bubonic Plague) that devastated Europe in the Middle Ages. But fewer people know that the earlier sixth century version was even more deadly. The sixth century Bubonic Plague also returned in 15 to 20 year cycles, wiping out vast segments of the young people. While the overall loss of life was about one-third of the population from the first incidence alone, the effect on sailors and those who lived in close communities (such as monasteries) was even more dramatic . . . affecting commerce and learning for some time to come.

Mr. Rosen draws generously on the latest scientific research provide a meticulous account of how the plague came to have such wide effects. I thought that it was fascinating and provided many new thoughts about the disease risks of having temperatures fluctuate more than usual.

That material, however, doesn't occur until the second half of the book. Unless you always wanted to know more about the fall of the Roman Empire and Justinian, you may get more information than you planned on for that aspect of the book. That was certainly true in my case having studied Roman history and Justinian in detail before. However, I felt rewarded by Mr. Rosen's style of using examples from the last few decades to bring the ancient examples to life.

Mr. Rosen's main thesis isn't totally persuasive. Although Justinian's reign brought the Roman Empire to new heights of accomplishment, most emperors who preceded and followed him weren't worth much. No matter how strong a nation is, poor leadership will soon sap its strength. Consider how much the Vietnam war economically weakened the United States in the
1960s. Look at how much the invasion of Iraq has driven up oil prices. The Roman Empire was continually under attack from various groups of invaders. That would have continued. Military success under Justinian mainly depended on guile and genius . . . rather than having much force to spread around. Clearly, the plague made the empire weaker than it would have been. But it might well have reached that level just a few generations later anyway, especially since Justinian didn't do a very good job of providing for leadership continuity.

I also think that in comparing the Roman Empire to the Chinese empire Mr. Rosen is too quick to make the two as being similar without considering all of the cultural forces in favor of preserving unity and heritage in the Chinese civilization.

Historians are fond of saying that each generation needs to rewrite history to make it understandable based on its own experiences. I think that Justinian's Flea makes that case more profoundly . . . because rapid advances in science often mean that we can see history more accurately now than prior generations could. That's certainly the case for the sixth century plague.

If you just want to read about the plague, start on page 163 and stop on page 268.

Mr. Rosen isn't a traditional historian. He writes in too interesting a way to have come from that guild. I hope you'll enjoy his efforts as much as I did.

Plague and Empire
Justinian was the last great Emperor, and Belisarius was the last great general of the Empire. I thought Rosen gave a good review of Justinian`s politics and Belisarius military tactics. The reader also gets a good feel on how the Christian church is fitting into the culture. The city of Constantinople at the height of her prosperity, suddenly gets wiped out by the plague.
There is one complaint I have with the book. The biology details of the plague were extremely boring. A few pages would have been fine. Instead Rosen goes into great detail, and even describes the Krebs cycle. Suddenly your back in a grade 10 biology class.