The Third Horseman: Climate Change and the Great Famine of the 14th Century

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Penguin, May 15, 2014 - History - 320 pages
The incredible true story of how a cycle of rain, cold, disease, and warfare created the worst famine in European history—years before the Black Death, from the author of Justinian's Flea and the forthcoming Miracle Cure

In May 1315, it started to rain. For the seven disastrous years that followed, Europeans would be visited by a series of curses unseen since the third book of Exodus: floods, ice, failures of crops and cattle, and epidemics not just of disease, but of pike, sword, and spear. All told, six million lives—one-eighth of Europe’s total population—would be lost.

With a category-defying knowledge of science and history, William Rosen tells the stunning story of the oft-overlooked Great Famine with wit and drama and demonstrates what it all means for today’s discussions of climate change.
 

Contents

List of Maps
CHAPTER
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
The Dearest Beef Ive Ever Seen 13201322
CHAPTER
CHAPTER ELEVEN
EPILOGUE
Notes
Copyright

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About the author (2014)

William Rosen, author of Miracle CureThe Third HorsemanJustinian’s Flea, and The Most Powerful Idea in the World, was an editor and a publisher at Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, and the Free Press for nearly twenty-five years.

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