The Black Death: A Global History of Humanity's Most Devastating Pandemic

"A magisterial history" (The Guardian) of humanity's greatest natural disaster--the Black Death--that reveals the true global impact and terrible human cost of this calamity, from the renowned author of The Crusades and The Greatest Knight.

"Terrific--and truly terrifying. Thomas Asbridge puts a human face--or rather multiple faces--on the Black Death."--Eric Cline, author of 1177 B.C.

In the mid-fourteenth century, a lethal plague struck the medieval world, causing unimaginable suffering and destruction. The Black Death was unquestionably one of history's defining episodes, yet a critical feature of its progress has often been ignored: the disease was not confined to Europe, but rather affected almost all of the known world, including the Near and Middle East, Byzantium, north Africa and Asia.

Tracing the pandemic's course across the medieval globe, The Black Death contrasts the experiences of different peoples, including Christians, Muslims, and Jews, charting this catastrophe's transformative effects on diverse aspects of medieval life. And crucially, Asbridge demonstrates that the plague was often at its most destructive in the Islamic world, where it ultimately played a role in the collapse of the mighty Mamluk Empire.

The Black Death also brings the human drama of this calamitous era to life, evoking the terror and the turmoil that beset cities such as London, Cairo, and Florence. Asbridge reconstructs the lives of the men, women and children who faced the Black Death--from ruling monarchs to peasant farmers--laying bare both the abject horror they endured and the courageous resolve they often demonstrated while striving to survive.

Uncovering a story that speaks to our own age, The Black Death highlights humankind's capacity for compassion and resilience amidst a global crisis to explain how the medieval world confronted, and ultimately overcame, this shattering pandemic.

Author: Thomas Asbridge
Publisher: Random House
Published: 05/26/2026
Pages: 544
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.90lbs
Size: 9.46h x 6.44w x 1.67d
ISBN: 9780593129166


Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 04/01/2026

About the Author
Thomas Asbridge is a historian of the Middle Ages, previously specializing in the study of the crusades, knighthood and chivalry, and is Reader in Medieval History at Queen Mary, University of London. He is the author of The Crusades: The Authoritative History of the War for the Holy Land and The Greatest Knight: The Remarkable Life of William Marshal, the Power behind Five English Thrones. He also wrote and presented the landmark three-part BBC television series The Crusades.