Daniel Defoe

A Journal of the Plague Year, Written by a Citizen Who Continued All the While in London

rumbledethumps

A fascinating look at London in 1665, when the bubonic plague swept through the city. Reading it in New York City during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic was especially enlightening, as one can see so many similarities. Hoarding supplies, fleeing the cities for country homes, self-isolation, all of these things were happening in the London pandemic over 300 years ago. There is even the "double-peak" we hear so much about today, where cases start to go on the decline, quarantine restrictions are lifted so people start mingling again, and we see a second wave of infections, albeit not quite as high as the first.

Highly recommended, especially if you want to see how human behavior hasn't changed in the intervening three-and-a-half centuries.