THE GENESIS OF THIS BOOK was a desire to find out what were the effects on society of the most lethal disaster of recorded history—that is to say, of the Black Death of 1348–50, which killed an estimated one third of the population living between India and Iceland. (Location 168)
“History never repeats itself,” said Voltaire; “man always does.” Thucydides, of course, made that principle the justification of his work. (Location 182)