The Black Death: The World’s Most Devastating Plague. The Great Courses, DVD/Video educational series. $125. In the late 1340s, a cataclysmic plague—known to us as the Black Death—left up to 75 million dead across Europe. While the story of the Black Death is one of destruction and loss, it is also one of the most compelling and deeply intriguing episodes in human history. Understanding its aftermath provides a highly revealing window on the forces that brought about the Renaissance, the Protestant Reformation, and modernity itself. Speaking to the full magnitude of this world-changing historical moment, The Black Death: The World’s Most Devastating Plague, taught by celebrated medievalist Dorsey Armstrong of Purdue University, takes you on an unforgettable excursion into the time period of the plague, its full human repercussions, and its transformative effects on European civilization. In 24 richly absorbing lectures, you’ll follow the path of the epidemic in its complete trajectory across medieval Europe. You’ll examine the epidemiological causes of the disaster; the social panic it spawned; its influence on religion, society, politics, economics, and art; and the long-term consequences for a continent that, less than two centuries later, would have the technology and the wherewithal to explore a new world. Course taught by Dr. Dorsey Armstrong, professor of English at Purdue University.