Black Death — Bunk History

How the Black Death Radically Changed the Course of History

A look at the economic changes that occured after the Black Death in Europe and what that could mean for the aftermath of Covid-19.

by Steve LeVine via Medium on April 2, 2020

Native American ruin.

A 600-Year-Old Blueprint for Weathering Climate Change

During the Little Ice Age, Native North Americans devised whole new economic, social, and political structures.

by Kathleen DuVal via The Atlantic on April 2, 2024

Vienna’s plague column; the AIDS quilt; Mexico City’s Memorial to Victims of Violence; Berlin’s Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

How Will We Remember This?

A COVID memorial will have to commemorate shame and failure as well as grief and bravery.

by Justin Davidson via Curbed on March 15, 2021

Makers of Living, Breathing History: The Material Culture of Homemade Facemasks

Masks have a history associated with disease, status, gender norms, and more.

by Erika L. Briesacher via Nursing Clio on June 24, 2020

Still from a 1950s animated WHO film featuring a drawing of the globe and an hourglass pointing toward Egypt.

Of Plagues and Papers: COVID-19, the Media, and the Construction of American Disease History

The different ways news media approaches pandemic reporting.

by Abigail Shelton via Clio and the Contemporary on May 1, 2020

What Our Contagion Fables Are Really About

In the literature of pestilence, the greatest threat isn’t the loss of human life but the loss of what makes us human.

by Jill Lepore via The New Yorker on March 23, 2020

The Coronavirus Is No 1918 Pandemic

The differences between the global response to the Great Flu Pandemic and today’s COVID-19 outbreak could not be more striking.

by Jeremy Brown via The Atlantic on March 3, 2020

Fleas, Fleas, Fleas

A reflection on the role of parasites in early American history.

by Sarah Swedberg via Nursing Clio on November 14, 2017

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