Title: 1666: Plague, War, and Hellfire
Author: Rebecca Rideal
Published Date: April 26, 2017
Publisher: John Murray Publishers
Format: Trade Paperback
Page Count: 304 pages
Source: Own copy
Date Read: May 20-25, 2020
Review
So the war takes up the majority of the book, but being a naval war in the 1600s means there was war "seasons" and war "breaks". However, my favorite part was the plague. Wow, humans don't change or evolve their thinking when it comes to public health. We still do the dumbest shit when the shit hits the fan. And then there is the dumb ass politicians. And then there are the doctors and scientists and public health technicians trying to do their best to combat the twin diseases of the black plague and people's stupidity. I had feelings since we were still in quarantine when I finished this book...I may still harbor some of those strong feelings.
However, the Great London fire section was where I learned the most history. I thought it happened one night, not four plus days and changed the Embankment area forever. As for the naval battle - the political maneuvering and planning was interesting, but there were pages of detailed naval battle with lots of naval jargon and it was a bit of a slog to get through.
I found the book overall very readable for both history buffs and non-history peeps and quite enjoyable.
7
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