The Third Horseman: A Story of Weather, War, and the Famine History Forgot

How a cycle of rain, cold, disease, and warfare created the worst famine in European history - years before the black death.

In May 1315, it started to rain. For the seven disastrous years that followed, Europeans would be visited by a series of curses unseen since the third books of Exodus: floods, ice, failures of crops and cattle, and epidemics not just of disease, but of pike, sword, and spear, All told, six million lives - one-eighth of Europe's total population - would be lost.

With a category-defying knowledge of science and history, William Rosen, the acclaimed author of Justinian's Flea, tells the stunning story of the oft-overlooked Great Famine with wit and drama and demonstrates what it all means for today's discussions of climate change.