This is a harrowing and compelling book. It is an exceptionally fine piece of social history; a sensitive, mature and deeply humane exploration of a social problem and its consequences for social history of the period.

• List of tables; List of figures; Preface; Conventions; Part I. Perspectives: Disease and society; Attitudes and actions; Part II. The dimensions of the problem; The chronology of epidemics 1485-1665; The local context; The urban impact; Metropolitan crises; Counting the costs; Part III. The social response: Public authority and a policy for control; Controversy and compromise; Towns under stress; Police and people; The end of plague 1665-1722; Conclusion; Abbreviations; Notes; Index

This is a harrowing and compelling book. It is an exceptionally fine piece of social history; a sensitive, mature and deeply humane exploration of a social problem and its consequences for social history of the period.

• List of tables; List of figures; Preface; Conventions; Part I. Perspectives: Disease and society; Attitudes and actions; Part II. The dimensions of the problem; The chronology of epidemics 1485-1665; The local context; The urban impact; Metropolitan crises; Counting the costs; Part III. The social response: Public authority and a policy for control; Controversy and compromise; Towns under stress; Police and people; The end of plague 1665-1722; Conclusion; Abbreviations; Notes; Index

This is a harrowing and compelling book. It is an exceptionally fine piece of social history; a sensitive, mature and deeply humane exploration of a social problem and its consequences for social history of the period.

• List of tables; List of figures; Preface; Conventions; Part I. Perspectives: Disease and society; Attitudes and actions; Part II. The dimensions of the problem; The chronology of epidemics 1485-1665; The local context; The urban impact; Metropolitan crises; Counting the costs; Part III. The social response: Public authority and a policy for control; Controversy and compromise; Towns under stress; Police and people; The end of plague 1665-1722; Conclusion; Abbreviations; Notes; Index