The purpose of this investigation is to answer the question of how the Black Death affected Europe in the Middle Ages. Since the Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, killing up to a third of the population, it is a significant topic to address. Some issues that need to be addressed with this topic are how the Black Death primarily affected Europe socially, politically, and economically. The focus will be on the period from 1347 to 1351, when the plague ran its course, but we will also look at the consequences up to modern times. Daniel Cohen's book The Black Death and Robert S. Giblin's book The Black Death; Both natural and human disasters in medieval Europe seem promising resources for successfully completing the investigation.132Part B: Summary of the Evidence“The Black Death was a combination of bubonic, pneumonic, and septicemic plague strains. It devastated the Western world from 1347 to 1351, killing 25%-50% of Europe's population and causing or accelerating marked political, economic, social, and cultural changes." Bubonic plague is spread through the bite of a flea that has bitten a rat carrying the bacterium that causes the plague, this form is rarely contagious and death occurs about a week after the initial infection. Pneumonic plague, however, is transmitted very easily from person to person. It also had a mortality rate of about 50% in its bubonic form and 100% in the pneumonic and septicemic strains. Europe was not well equipped to deal with such a pandemic. In fact, their lifestyle was a breeding ground for the parasites that spread it. They did not carry out regular waste collections and rubbish piled up in the streets. The city had no running water, and people rarely washed their clothes... middle of paper..., they did what people always strive to do: find something positive in a bad situation.162Works Cited" Death black," World History: Ancient and Medieval Times, ABC CIio. accessed 8 April 2014. http://ancienthistory.abc-clio.com/Boccaccio, Giovanni. “The Decameron”. Pink monkey. Last edited 1350. http://pinkmonkey.com/dl/library1/b1.pdfCohen, Daniel. The Black Death, 1347-1351. New York: World Focus Book, 1941. Giblin, James Cross. When the plague strikes: the Black Death, smallpox, AIDS. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1995.Gottfried, Robert S. The Black Death; Natural and human disasters in medieval Europe. New York: The Free Press/ A Division of Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc., 1983. Witowski, Erika L. “The Black Death: 1347-1351.” Then Again…, last modified December 12, 1996. http://www.thenagain.info/webchron/westeurope/BlackDeath.html.