Step in time

    

     I hope the books which turn up on these pages are varied enough to interest anyone who drops by, but just to add to the mix, here's some non-fiction which might appeal to those who like a historical puzzle - a "what-dunnit", rather than a whodunnit. John Waller's A Time to Dance, a Time to Die is about the so-called Dancing Plague which hit Strasbourg in 1518 and took many lives. It's an extraordinary story and makes for a very readable book, touching on anthropology, social history and modern medical science in its analysis of a strange phenomenon.
    It is particularly strong on the background to the events of that summer when one Frau Troffea took to dancing in the streets and could or would not stop which led to so many others joining her, so we learn much about the prevailing social conditions, the anticlericalism, superstitious beliefs, the lingering effects of plague and famine, and a concomitant spiritual despair which apparently made so many people susceptible to what was termed 'choreomania' and brought them to a state of extreme exhaustion or death.
    I found the medical aspects particularly interesting (John Waller is a historian of medicine) as they cover not just the late medieval 'symptom pool' but relate that to much more modern instances of trance, somatoform and post-traumatic stress disorders, but the book as a whole is clear, vivid, accessible, and a surprisingly quick read.

For a very different book about a plague, I can't do better than to recommend Geraldine Brooks' superb novel Year of Wonders.

Comments

[Sarah]

I've not yet read A year of wonders, but on the same subject I'd recommend Journal of a Plague Year by Daniel Defoe and The Plague by Albert Camus.