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The Third Horseman: Climate Change And The Great Famine Of The 14th Century (2014)

by William Rosen(Favorite Author)

3.56 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0670025895 (ISBN13: 9780670025893)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Viking Adult

review 1: The book is more about rulers and wars between England, Scotland, and France than about climate change and famine. Oh, those latter topics are mentioned, but the bulk of the chapters seldom mention climate and famine at all. I was not disappointed because I am a descendant of Robert the Bruce, so I found the history interesting. However, if someone really wants to learn about climate change and famine rather than European politics, they may be disappointed.
review 2: At the end of this book, the author mentions how that OTHER great calamity of the 14th century (a little thing we like to call the Black Plague) tends to overshadow the famine that occured a couple of decades before, and since the latter "only" killed about 10% of the population (in some places, by... more some accounts) while the former wiped out 3 times that much. That probably explains why this was all news to me: the Medieval Warm Period, the disastrous weather that led to 2 years of near constant rain, the horrible animal diseases that took out entire flocks and herds, etc etc. There was a lot more than just famine going on in the first few decades of the 14th century, and despite the title, it felt like the political goings-on were actually the focus of the book (poor Edward II. He really wasn't cut out for kingship, was he?), but Rosen writes with humor and makes it all pretty accessible and interesting. less

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