For a recent article in H-Net Reviews, Megan Baumhammer discusses Preexisting Conditions: Recounting the Plagueby Samuel Weber. Click here to learn more about the book. Click here to read the full review. An excerpt appears below:

“Weber identifies the historical significance of plague as simultaneously ancient, modern, timeless, instant, natural, unnatural, and ever-present in human history and as ‘a visitation.’ This book is, then, a record of prior experience of plague and pandemic events throughout history—the ‘preexisting conditions’ of the title. To frame the historical experiences of plague, Weber offers a deeply read set of texts to lead the reader through a Western literary record of pandemic accounts. His focus is specifically on the Western canon, with two threads running from German Romantic and French existential or ab‐ surdist writers.”