Plague: The Mysterious Past and Terrifying Future of the World s Most Dangerous Disease book by Wendy Orent

Plague is a terrifying mystery. It helped bring down the Roman and Byzantine empires. In the Middle Ages, it wiped out 40 million people -- 40% of the total population in Europe. The plague of London in the 17th cent. killed more than 1,000 people a day. In the early 20th cent., plague took the lives of 12 million in India. Weaponized strains of plague still exist and could be replicated in almost any lab. This book pieces together a fascinating and terrifying historical whodunit. Orent s retelling of the four great pandemics in history makes for gripping reading and solves many puzzles. She reveals the differences among rat-based, prairie dog-based, and marmot-based plague. This book is chilling reading at the dawn of a new age of bioterrorism. Illus.