{"id":2360,"date":"2010-07-16T18:33:38","date_gmt":"2010-07-16T18:33:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2010\/07\/16\/liveblogging-the-black-death\/"},"modified":"2010-07-16T18:33:38","modified_gmt":"2010-07-16T18:33:38","slug":"liveblogging-the-black-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2010\/07\/16\/liveblogging-the-black-death\/","title":{"rendered":"Live-blogging the Black Death"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p>I'm going to take the risk here of recommending a book I'm only a third of the way through: <em>A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century,<\/em> by Barbara Tuchman.<\/p>\n<p>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/fredclarksarchive.files.wordpress.com\/2010\/07\/6a00d8341c582a53ef0134857b9bd7970c.jpg\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Tuchman\" class=\"asset asset-image at-xid-6a00d8341c582a53ef0134857b9bd7970c \" src=\"https:\/\/fredclarksarchive.files.wordpress.com\/2010\/07\/6a00d8341c582a53ef0134857b9bd7970c.jpg?w=225\" style=\"width:200px;margin:0 0 5px 5px\"><\/a> It's a fascinating tour through a fascinating time and the sort of book that might make you decide Tuchman is your second-favorite history writer. I say <em>second<\/em> favorite because she introduces readers to Giovanni Villani of Florence, \"the great historian of his time.\" And while I have only read of him what Tuchman recounts, that's enough to make him someone to marvel at. Villani died at age 68 as the Black Death swept through Florence, Tuchman records, \"in the midst of an unfinished sentence\":<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><em>\u2026 e dure questo pistolenza fino a \u2026<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Tuchman translates this as \"\u2026 in the midst of this pestilence there came to an end \u2026\"<\/p>\n<p>A historian whose final act was to write the unfinished sentence recording his own death. There was a person who had found his proper calling.<\/p>\n<p>Anyway, <em>A Distant Mirror.<\/em> Great book if you're interested in that sort of thing. Possibly even a great book to <em>make<\/em> you interested in that sort of thing.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;m going to take the risk here of recommending a book I&#8217;m only a third of the way through: A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century, by Barbara Tuchman. It&#8217;s a fascinating tour through a fascinating time and the sort of book that might make you decide Tuchman is your second-favorite history writer. I say [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":111,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Live-blogging the Black Death<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I&#039;m going to take the risk here of recommending a book I&#039;m only a third of the way through: A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century, by\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2010\/07\/16\/liveblogging-the-black-death\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Live-blogging the Black Death\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I&#039;m going to take the risk here of recommending a book I&#039;m only a third of the way through: A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century, by\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2010\/07\/16\/liveblogging-the-black-death\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"slacktivist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-07-16T18:33:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/fredclarksarchive.files.wordpress.com\/2010\/07\/6a00d8341c582a53ef0134857b9bd7970c.jpg?w=225\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fred Clark\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Fred Clark\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2010\/07\/16\/liveblogging-the-black-death\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2010\/07\/16\/liveblogging-the-black-death\/\",\"name\":\"Live-blogging the Black Death\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-07-16T18:33:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-07-16T18:33:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/0173c85e46e7e0951fef5752bed78b6e\"},\"description\":\"I&#039;m going to take the risk here of recommending a book I&#039;m only a third of the way through: A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century, by\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2010\/07\/16\/liveblogging-the-black-death\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2010\/07\/16\/liveblogging-the-black-death\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2010\/07\/16\/liveblogging-the-black-death\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Live-blogging the Black Death\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/\",\"name\":\"slacktivist\",\"description\":\"&quot;Test everything; hold fast to what is good.&quot;\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/0173c85e46e7e0951fef5752bed78b6e\",\"name\":\"Fred Clark\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e23731809f5a2c785d0416fc4211a51e?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e23731809f5a2c785d0416fc4211a51e?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Fred Clark\"},\"description\":\"Fred Clark is a graduate of Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary (now called Palmer Seminary), of Eastern College (now called Eastern University) and of the fundamentalist Timothy Christian High School (still fundamentalist and still called Timothy Christian High School, but not really thrilled to have a snarky, liberal, tree-hugging, pro-choice, pro-GLBT, peacenik, commie, evolutionist as such a vocal alumnus). A former managing editor of Prism magazine, Fred worked in the parachurch nonprofit world for a decade and then for a decade in the newspaper biz. He began blogging in 2002. In 2003 he began writing a review of the best-selling Left Behind series. Eight years later he still hasn\u2019t finished reviewing the second book of that series and the experience has left him a broken shell of a man. Fred knows the difference between the possessive \u201cits\u201d and the contraction \u201cit\u2019s,\u201d and he is acutely bothered when others mistakenly confuse the two, yet he himself just kind of instinctively types the apostrophe whether or not it belongs there. Some feel this is his greatest hypocrisy, but those who know him better know better. He\u2019s guilty of much greater hypocrisies. Jesus loves Fred far more than Fred loves Jesus, but he at least has the decency to recognize the unfairness of that lopsided relationship and he has long wished that he were better at maybe kind of sort of doing something more to correct that some day. A Baptist, an amateur, a Gen-Xer, a Gemini and a Mets fan, Fred lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with his wife and two teenage daughters. You can reach him via email at slacktivist at hotmail dot com.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/author\/fredclark\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Live-blogging the Black Death","description":"I&#039;m going to take the risk here of recommending a book I&#039;m only a third of the way through: A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century, by","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2010\/07\/16\/liveblogging-the-black-death\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Live-blogging the Black Death","og_description":"I&#039;m going to take the risk here of recommending a book I&#039;m only a third of the way through: A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century, by","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2010\/07\/16\/liveblogging-the-black-death\/","og_site_name":"slacktivist","article_published_time":"2010-07-16T18:33:38+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/fredclarksarchive.files.wordpress.com\/2010\/07\/6a00d8341c582a53ef0134857b9bd7970c.jpg?w=225"}],"author":"Fred Clark","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Fred Clark","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2010\/07\/16\/liveblogging-the-black-death\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2010\/07\/16\/liveblogging-the-black-death\/","name":"Live-blogging the Black Death","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-07-16T18:33:38+00:00","dateModified":"2010-07-16T18:33:38+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/0173c85e46e7e0951fef5752bed78b6e"},"description":"I&#039;m going to take the risk here of recommending a book I&#039;m only a third of the way through: A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century, by","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2010\/07\/16\/liveblogging-the-black-death\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2010\/07\/16\/liveblogging-the-black-death\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2010\/07\/16\/liveblogging-the-black-death\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Live-blogging the Black Death"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/","name":"slacktivist","description":"&quot;Test everything; hold fast to what is good.&quot;","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/0173c85e46e7e0951fef5752bed78b6e","name":"Fred Clark","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e23731809f5a2c785d0416fc4211a51e?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e23731809f5a2c785d0416fc4211a51e?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","caption":"Fred Clark"},"description":"Fred Clark is a graduate of Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary (now called Palmer Seminary), of Eastern College (now called Eastern University) and of the fundamentalist Timothy Christian High School (still fundamentalist and still called Timothy Christian High School, but not really thrilled to have a snarky, liberal, tree-hugging, pro-choice, pro-GLBT, peacenik, commie, evolutionist as such a vocal alumnus). A former managing editor of Prism magazine, Fred worked in the parachurch nonprofit world for a decade and then for a decade in the newspaper biz. He began blogging in 2002. In 2003 he began writing a review of the best-selling Left Behind series. Eight years later he still hasn\u2019t finished reviewing the second book of that series and the experience has left him a broken shell of a man. Fred knows the difference between the possessive \u201cits\u201d and the contraction \u201cit\u2019s,\u201d and he is acutely bothered when others mistakenly confuse the two, yet he himself just kind of instinctively types the apostrophe whether or not it belongs there. Some feel this is his greatest hypocrisy, but those who know him better know better. He\u2019s guilty of much greater hypocrisies. Jesus loves Fred far more than Fred loves Jesus, but he at least has the decency to recognize the unfairness of that lopsided relationship and he has long wished that he were better at maybe kind of sort of doing something more to correct that some day. A Baptist, an amateur, a Gen-Xer, a Gemini and a Mets fan, Fred lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with his wife and two teenage daughters. You can reach him via email at slacktivist at hotmail dot com.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/author\/fredclark\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/111"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2360\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}