Insightful, informative, problem with continuity

books:


	• Justinian's Flea: Plague, Empire, and the Birth of Europe William Rosen Viking Adult, 2007 - 384 pages average customer review:based on 30 reviews view larger image
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Good Read

Justinian's Flea is a very interesting book, especially the first 3 sections. However, the last section is poor enough that I cannot give this book a full 5 stars. I'll start with the good parts:

The book is based on the premise that a bacterium, Y. Pestis, has played a much more significant role in human history than previously believed, particularly in the formation of Medieval Europe. William Rosen begins the book describing the background needed to understand the importance of Y. Pestis, the cause of the Black Plague. He discusses, the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the rise of the Eastern Roman Empire, Justinian himself, and the bacteria, Y. Pestis. I found these discussions to be the strongest part of the book, and the main reason to recommend the book itself. The discussions are concise, yet detailed. Society, religion, politics, and military affairs are all discussed, creating a well-round picture of the Europe of late-antiquity. All the while, Rosen's writing style is flowing and easy to read.

It's the last section where the book falls short. It is here that he makes his argument. I felt that Rosen's writing became more convoluted than in previous sections. I wasn't sure where he was going at times. He seemed to get off track. Even so, by the end, he was able to tie everything together. I could be wrong, and others may find this part vital to Rosen's argument, but I think that Rosen could have made just as strong a point as he did without much of the last section, particularly the discussion about China.

Despite the last section, I highly recommend this book if you are interested in late-antiquity, early-medieval European history. Rosen is able to weave an enormous amount of information into an interesting and easy to read book. I wish he had made his last section tighter; however, this is a minor complaint about a very good book.

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Insightful, informative, problem with continuity

The author is insightful and has interesting points, however the discontinuity makes for some difficult reading.

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Could have been so much better

The book itself in parts is a great read. It is suppose to be about the plague of Justinian which the writer feels weakened the Easter Roman Empire when its Emperor Justinian could have rebuilt the Western Roman Empire. This according to the writer was the cause of the fragmented Europe we have today and the rise of Islam. After reading the book I still want to see more exact analysis of what the disease did to the Empire other then it killed half the population.

Also parts are so badly off topic for example discussing Hagia Sophia let me just left wondering what he was talking about and why!

The section on the diseases and how it worked needed better explanation. I just could not really follow his explanation.

I also think it needs more work to explain why the plague did not affected China as much as the Roman Empire. I would think the Chinese canals used both for irrigation and transport of good could have carried the rats even better then in European ships and wagons.

Also in the book some facts the book lists need some checking too.

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Interesting

Divided into three parts. Part one covers a general historical narrative of Byzantium from the fall of the West to the rise of Justinian. Part two surveys some of Byzantium's more notable cultural and military achievements for the timeframe (Justinian and his advisors were truly among the last great Romans). Part three is the actual plague and how it impacts greater society.

The author's prose is conducive enough to reading, and he seems conversant enough with the topic. The topic itself is interesting. One can easily draw the following conclusion: Islam owes its existence to bacteria ridden fleas who wiped out two great empires, allowing a coalition of Arab tribes to sweep through their shattered remains.

I waited till this book was reduced to bargain price before I bought it. It's a nice book, but don't pay full price for it unless you're a diehard Byzantine enthusiast.

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Bio-historico-biographical-political science

By my title I wish to suggest that this is a complex text. It is a somewhat difficult read: not really popular history. Some knowledge of the period and the theory concerning transmission of the plague is useful. (I mean its connection with the maratime gran trade and the identification with later pandemics, both of which are subject to scholarly disagreement.)The book breaks in the middle: the halves are Justinian's Empire pre-plague and after. There is surprisingly little concerning his rise to power, a good discussion of the construction of the church of Holy Wisdom and some discussion of the Hippodrome and the city walls, minimal discussion of the Patriarchate vs the Papacy, indeed of the Patriarchate in general. There is glancing discussion of the role of Monophysitism in its political ramifications and a bit concerning Arianism but little on the theological controversy itself. Bilisarius and Narses and John the Cappodocian make their appearance, as do numerous princes and potentates, but none are seriouslydiscussed in depth.

A serious premise is that it was this period and the events which determined the boundaries and nature of modern Europe. Good discussion- some about Spain is really interesting. Still, one can argue the importance of Charlemagne and the rise of the Holy Roman Empire or technology, or Islam in place of the last gasps of the Roman Empire and the plague. And on and on. The vast area and extensive time span , and the tentacles of the Eastern empire means the events can only be sketchy at best.

Thus, there is some worthwhile information on the pre-Islamic Persian empire and its interactions with the Eastern Empire that gives insight into modern problems. The author, for example, suggests the Zoarostrian era as one which achieved imperial greatness but is obscured or denied for theological reasons by contemporary Iranian society, which results in a sort of disassociation of culture .

In all, not for the uninformed or casual reader, but not a textbook. Some things to think about. Some to disagree with. Certainly worth a few dollars and hours from a person interested in erly medievalism. By the way, the author does not presume knowledge of Greek or Latin on the part of the reader, footnoting present but not obtrusive.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

A richly told story of the collision between nature?s smallest organism and history?s mightiest empire

The Emperor Justinian reunified Rome?s fractured empire by defeating the Goths and Vandals who had separated Italy, Spain, and North Africa from imperial rule. In his capital at Constantinople he built the world?s most beautiful building, married its most powerful empress, and wrote its most enduring legal code, seemingly restoring Rome?s fortunes for the next five hundred years. Then, in the summer of 542, he encountered a flea. The ensuing outbreak of bubonic plague killed five thousand people a day in Constantinople and nearly killed Justinian himself.

In Justinian?s Flea, William Rosen tells the story of history?s first pandemic?a plague seven centuries before the Black Death that killed tens of millions, devastated the empires of Persia and Rome, left a path of victims from Ireland to Iraq, and opened the way for the armies of Islam. Weaving together evolutionary microbiology, economics, military strategy, ecology, and ancient and modern medicine, Rosen offers a sweeping narrative of one of the great hinge moments in history, one that will appeal to readers of John Kelly?s The Great Mortality, John Barry?s The Great Influenza, and Jared Diamond?s Collapse.

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