Review by Choice Review
Bubonic plague in Croatia is the subject of Expelling the Plague. Zlata Blazina Tomic is a medical historian who was employed at the Osler Library (McGill Univ., Canada). Vesna Blazina is a librarian and translator who formerly worked at the Université de Montréal, Canada. The purpose of this text is to demonstrate that Dubrovnik was a forerunner and important innovator in the management and prevention of epidemic plague: "The plague control measures applied in Dubrovnik became standard practice in many other cities across Europe by the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.... Dubrovnik led the way with promulgation of quarantine legislation in 1377 and the establishment of the first Health Office in 1390." The fact that this book could be written at all is due to the existence of the extensive archives of the city of Dubrovnik, which cover the years 1277-1808. The book contains appendixes and endnotes. Recommended primarily for history of medicine collections and historians of this geographic area. Given the recent Ebola pandemic and the authors' accessible writing style, however, this book may also appeal to general readers. Summing Up: Recommended for collections in the history of medicine. All readership levels. --Ralph D. Arcari, University of Connecticut School of Medicine
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
