Recreates the struggles within plague-stricken Italy, relating events that led to a confrontation between the advocates of science and the followers of faith.

Very occasionally the work of a fine historian transcends its own detail to illuminate our entire perspective on the past. In this concisestudy Carlo Cipolla, one of the leading European scholars of today, uses the evidence of a small Tuscan town's experience of the plague to reveal new features of church-state relations in seventeenth-century Italy. The plague, an endemic nightmare in Renaissance Europe, struck Montelupo in 1630. It was fought by both civilian and religious authorities, the nature of their resistance exposing their divisions. Public health magistrates in Florence forcibly isolated the twon to reduce contagion. Clerical leaders organised a mass procession duringt which the town gates were broken down. The resulting enquiry provides Cipolla with his exceptionally rich source material. In vivid colloquial prose he recaptures the emotions, attitudes and behaviour of ordinary people in a remote coner of history. -- Jacket flap.

In this volume, Carlo M. Cipolla throws new light on the subject, utilizing newly uncovered and significant archival material.

Leon (Judah Aryeh) Modena was a major intellectual figure of the early modern Italian Jewish community--a complex and intriguing personality who was famous among contemporary European Christians as well as Jews. Modena (1571-1648) produced an autobiography that documents in poignant detail the turbulent life of his family in the Jewish ghetto of Venice. The text of this work is well known to Jewish scholars but has never before been translated from the original Hebrew, except in brief excerpts. This complete translation, based on Modena's autograph manuscript, makes available in English a wealth of historical material about Jewish family life of the period, religion in daily life, the plague of 1630-1631, crime and punishment, the influence of kabbalistic mysticism, and a host of other subjects. The translator, Mark R. Cohen, and four other distinguished scholars add commentary that places the work in historical and literary context. Modena describes his fascination with the astrology and alchemy that were important parts of the Jewish and general culture of the seventeenth century. He also portrays his struggle against poverty and against compulsive gambling, which, cleverly punning on a biblical verse, he called the "sin of Judah." In addition, the book contains accounts of Modena's sorrow over his three sons: the death of the eldest from the poisonous fumes of his own alchemical laboratory, the brutal murder of the youngest, and the exile of the remaining son. The introductory essay by Mark R. Cohen and Theodore K. Rabb highlights the significance of the work for early modern Jewish and general European history. Howard E. Adelman presents an up-to-date biographical sketch of the author and points the way toward a new assessment of his place in Jewish history. Natalie Z. Davis places Modena's work in the context of European autobiography, both Christian and Jewish, and especially explores the implications of the Jewish status as outsider for the privileged exploration of the self. A set of historical notes, compiled by Howard Adelman and Benjamin C. I. Ravid, elucidates the text.

As periodical of the International Academy of the History of Medicine, this Clio Medica volume contains 12 papers.

Edward Golub, distinguished researcher and former professor of immunology, shows that major advances in medicine are caused by changes in the way scientists describe disease. Bleeding, sweating, and other treatments we consider barbaric were standard treatments for centuries because they conformed to a conception of disease shared by patients and doctors. Scientific breakthroughs in the understanding of disease in the nineteenth century transformed treatment and the goals of medicine. Golub argues that the ongoing revolution in molecular genetics has opened the door to the "biology of complexity," again transforming our view of disease. This thought-provoking, timely book reveals a crucial but overlooked role of science in medicine, and offers a new vision for the goals of both science and medicine as we enter the twenty-first century.

Exploring more than 500 years of the country's history, Italy provides readers interested in modern Italy or European history with a greater understanding of Italy's past, from the Renaissance to the present. This guide presents the milestones in Italy's history in an interesting and readable way.