A brief review on "Cristofano and the plague"

Considering the name of this blog it is obvious that the primary focus will be psychology related, however my reading/research is not always necessary psychology driven - and what I mean by that, is I do not limit my self to just psychological material. I find interests in many areas of knowledge which help me gain an insight into the world we live in; its history, its art, its music, its people... all of these things allow me to gain a realistic perspective of my own life. Now... what I have decided to do is create brief write ups on the books I read in the hopes of peaking someone else's interest and to maybe consult these books if they like what I have written. However my motives are not purely selfless, me writing these posts helps me to facilitate my own understanding of what I have read too, so in my eyes it is a win win :)

Right so now lets get on with my latest read...




I have just finished this book by Carlo M.Cipolla called "Cristofano and the plague - A study in the history of public health in the age of Galileo" besides its lengthy title, this book delivers a fascinating insight into life in the 16th century when Europe was stricken by the plague. Contrary to most books like this where it's narrated from the authors perspective or through an assumed anecdotal tale following a families venture through a disaster - this book instead focuses on archival data from the public health board who had to make all the decisions based on public safety. This definitely gives a factual and accurate feel to the book.

One slight issue I found was with the use of related terminology (words that were used as specific identifiers throughout the book) and how a clear definition of said words were not always apparent. Note that I do call this a "slight" issue because the book does come equipped with a variety of appendices and definitions to help the reader to fully understand what is happening (it can just be a little annoying always referring to the back of the book). Besides that this book is very well written and holds a great deal of interesting information, with full emphasis on the terrible conditions related to that time.  



Something that stood out to me was with the way the health board dealt with the plague, it's a given that their ideas were somewhat primitive and limited given the times, however they were definitely on the right tracks. They conjured up ideas such as quarantining those with the disease (even though they confined those infected, it was in terrible conditions most of the time - especially if you were of a low social class. people were often sentenced to a period in a dedicated building termed a "pest house" and along with its low quality of hygiene, equipment was always scarce i.e. bedding and clothes etc), burning contagious clothing, stopping shipments of marketed goods such as food, confining the town in order to stop people coming and going, and to thoroughly cleanse any area suspected of contagion. These strategies were good in theory and did indeed benefit them to an extent, but due to the origins of the plague hiding under the cover of anonymity and thriving of societies naivety, it was hard to conjure up strategies to stop it at the source (especially in the summer times when the percentage of deaths would drastically increase as a result of more fleas and rats).



Another thing that struck my curiosity was how many of the leaders assigned to the positions that involved power over medical staff were in fact naive to any sort of medical practice. It was not uncommon for a someone of power within the medical field to have no actual "in the field" experience. On the other hand this is understandable because of the lack of choice due to a decrease in population at the time. These sorts of positions were approached with much reluctance due to risk of contact with any infected. This cautious approach even saw many areas without active doctors which for obvious reasons is not very good, especially in a time of vital need. One quote I thought perfectly summed up the frustration of the time goes as follows: "One learns at the cost of human life what happens when one receives from God the scourge of an epidemic without having any light or experience wherewith to guide one's conduct in so exacting a task" . 

So...

This is my brief overview of what this book in-tells, there is much more to it than what I have illustrated. If you find yourself wanting to know more about a crucial time in our history then I highly recommend this book.

Thank you for reading :)