Essay About Barbara W. Tuchman And Black Death

Mirror Written by Barbara W. Tuchman
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History of Mirror written by Barbara W. Tuchman parallels the 14th century where war, famine, hunger, and plague nearly destroyed mankind to the modern world as we know of today. The Black Death was the most devastating threat mankind in the 14th century faced. Doctors and priests were powerless in their efforts to provide an answer to the public, however they did find someone to blame it on. In the essay, Tuchman shows a strong similarity the accusations against the Jewish population at the time of the plague as well as when the Nazis attempted to exterminate their population by starving, torturing them in concentration camps. Another parallel Tuchman brings up is the lack of public confidence in the government. During the 14th century the credibility of the church was severely lowered due to the corruption happening behind the publics knowledge. Almost anything physical that had a relation to God was put out on the market. Tuchman parallels this to todays electoral process when people sell their votes to the misleading campaigns. After reading Tuchmans parallels from the 14th century to todays society, it seems to me that our future lies completely in the hands of our generation and on. Through this essay, it clearly shows that our history is our biggest resource in making a better tomorrow for everyone by studying the mistakes and tragedies that occurred. However, mankind has yet to achieve this magnanimous goal, it seems that society has focused their own efforts in their interest rather than the human race. There is still ethnic boundaries yet to be fully broken but however it has made a dramatic progress in change since the beginning of the thirteen colonies up to the civil rights movement. In addition, the public has greater lack of confidence in our government now, primarily due to the war in Iraq. Misleading campaigns trying to buy the peoples votes in order to fulfill their own agenda in their own interests. Mankind has made dramatic efforts in correcting and understanding our history as well as preparing for the future, it all depends on our actions in the years to come.