• Justinian's Flea

  • Plague, Empire, and the Birth of Europe
  • By: William Rosen
  • Narrated by: Barrett Whitener
  • Length: 11 hrs and 52 mins
  • 3.9 out of 5 stars (431 ratings)

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Justinian's Flea  By  cover art

Justinian's Flea

By: William Rosen
Narrated by: Barrett Whitener
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Publisher's summary

The emperor Justinian reunified Rome's fractured empire by defeating the Goths and Vandals who had separated Italy, Spain, and North Africa from imperial rule. At his capital in Constantinople, he built the world's most beautiful building, married the most powerful empress, and wrote the empire's most enduring legal code, seemingly restoring Rome's fortunes for the next five hundred years. Then, in the summer of 542, he encountered a flea. The ensuing outbreak of bubonic plague killed 5,000 people a day in Constantinople and nearly killed Justinian himself.

In Justinian's Flea, William Rosen tells the story of history's first pandemic - a plague seven centuries before the Black Death that killed tens of millions, devastated the empires of Persia and Rome, left a path of victims from Ireland to Iraq, and opened the way for the armies of Islam. Weaving together evolutionary microbiology, economics, military strategy, ecology, and ancient and modern medicine, Rosen offers a sweeping narrative of one of the great hinge moments in history, one that will appeal to readers of John Kelly's The Great Mortality, John Barry's The Great Influenza, and Jared Diamond's Collapse.

©2007 William Rosen (P)2007 Tantor Media Inc.

What listeners say about Justinian's Flea

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

More history than Disease

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, even though it was more a history of the world from 100 CE to 600 CE than a history of the plague (as a disease), but well told and informative none the less.
If ancient history is your bag, this is for you.

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30 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Wake me up!

The narrator's monotonic delivery is absurd.
Make certain that you listen to a sample before buying. The content is detailed and very interesting, but the narrator should look into coaching. It is at times difficult to determine when a sentence ends...the reader was very off putting.

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13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Interesting, but flat read.

The material was interesting. It provided a good overview of the Eastern Roman Empire, but seemed to lose focus in a discussion of church architecture a little before the half-way point. Then the author launched into a fascinating discussion of the causes, mechanisms, and effect of the plague.

The reader is a little flat in his presentation. It takes some getting used to, but after that it is acceptable. I enjoyed the book, but listen to the sample before buying.

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13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

A Credible Theory That Explains Current Events

Picture this. In the 6th century AD, the Emperor Justinian decides to re-conquer what had been the fullest extent of the Roman Empire from his base in Constantinople. He sends an underequipped general, Belisarius, on this mission.

Through guile and tactical genius, Belisarius regains the Roman Empire beating every enemy he faces: Vandals, Goths, and Gauls. North Africa, Italy, the Levant, and parts or modern day Europe are re-conquered. This accomplished, the newly conquered empire could have been the modern colossus governed under a newly codified set of laws sponsored by Justinian.

Unfortunately, Constantinople and the rest of the empire suffer from a plague that kills 25,000.000 people (a very large percentage of the world’s population at the time) and continues to kill in subsequent years.

Immune from the plague are the isolated tribes of Arabs who come under the sway of a merchant, Mohamed, who preaches a new religion that features jihad. The newly conquered territories cannot be held by Byzantium and the effects of the plague have effectively shaped the modern world.

The book is complex and the narrator does the best he can but the story can be followed.

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Good, but dry

This was an interesting book, but the narration was extremely dry. I would give the text a 4 out of five, but the narration drops it down to a 3.

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Just OK

Lots of information, but the authors digress constantly. The irrelevant details get in the way of understanding the big picture. Also, the audio book is poorly edited. Several sections have 10-15 seconds of repeated text. Summary: a very interesting subject, but the editor should be fired.

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Justinian's Flea

I've just finished listening to this book a second time. It is a most impressive exposition of the fascinatingly complex bio-psycho-socio-political events of late (Roman) antiquity. Already having a more than passing acquaintance with this historical period helps in following the author's masterful weaving of those many threads.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • K.
  • 02-28-09

Justinian's Flea

This is the worst reader I have come across in the many years I have been purchasing audible books!
Avoid him at all costs.
Read the book in hard copy, it was interesting.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

terrible narrator

the book itself seemed interesting but the narrator was so flat and boring as to make it unlistinable. A complete waste, I reallly wouldn't recommend it.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A fabulous book WRECKED by a dreadful narrator

What disappointed you about Justinian's Flea?

I had read the hardback edition when it was released and I LOVED it. I just can't believe that a bad narrator can so completely wreck a book. The narrator sounds like he is impersonating George Bush Sr. And his delivery is monotone. Its an insult to the source material. I'd love the publisher to rerelease this with a different narrator.

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4 people found this helpful