After my last post critiquing Cohn’s scientific interpretations, I think its only fair to write about all the historians who are actively engaging and incorporating scientific findings in their work. I’ve communicated with a lot of historians who are following the scientific work on the plague and I know there will be some articles and books coming out over the next year or so that incorporate some of new genetics in historical analysis.
So for science folks, these two articles give us some insight into how historians see plague genetics unfolding. Little concentrates on the early drama over plague genetics. Bolton covers that material also, but also looks at newer information on transmission dynamics too.
Little, L. K. (2011). Plague Historians in Lab Coats. Past & Present, 213(1), 267–290. doi:10.1093/pastj/gtr014
Bolton, J.L. ‘Looking for Yersinia pestis: scientists, historians and the Black Death’ in L. Clark and C. Rawcliffe (eds.), Society in an Age of Plague, The Fifteenth Century XII (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2013), publication date 15 August 2013, ISBN 9781843838753. (In the same book/issue as Cohn’s paper discussed in the last post.)
Overall, I am really optimistic about the interdisciplinary work that can be done on the plague.
Contagions 