In the Wake of the Plague: The Black Death & the World It Made, by Norman F. Cantor

(0060014342)
Fast read. This was more the latter half of the subtitle than the former. I wasn't prepared for the unexpected directions the author took. He mostly focused on England, but also dealt with some of the rest of (mostly Western) Europe. This was the first time I had heard that some of "the plague" might have been anthrax and/or other cattle diseases. I had not internalized just how many people actually died of the plague in England and what percentage of the population (something like 1/3). So of course a huge impact on EVERYthing: farming, law, psychological outlook, women's place in culture, theology/science, the monarchy.

The chapter on the Jews was expecially helpful; I now understand, among other things, why so many Jews lived in Poland (and western Russia) in the early 20th century.

Also, I had not heard that scientists now think that most plagues come up the same way ancient humans migrated, from eastern Africa.

For a little book, there's an awful lot here. And a great bibliography, sorted by area of interest: Historical Contexts, Kabbalah, Film...

I will probably put him on The List.