Delve into the history of the Black Death with Patrick Boucheron, who offers a brilliant account of the pandemic while challenging many long-held assumptions. Fascinating from start to finish!
Professor at the Collège de France, PATRICK BOUCHERON is the author of, Léonard et Machiavel (Verdier, 2008), Conjurer la peur (Seuil, 2013), and La Trace et L’Aura (Seuil, 2019). He edited The World History of France (Seuil, 2017 and 2025) and he is the producer of the series Quand l’histoire fait dates on Arte and the program Allons-y voir! on France Culture. In "Peste noire" (Seuil, 2026), the author examines the greatest demographic catastrophy in human history. In just five years, from 1347 to 1352, the pandemic claimed more than half of Europe’s population. This global history draws on archaeology, genetics, and environmental sciences. Amid the turmoil of the epidemic, time unravels and becomes imbued with our contemporary fears. History enters into a not so macabre dance as it celebrates the poetry of knowledge which recognises that the opposite of death is not life, but truth.
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