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There are a number of excellent works on the Black Death, but if you are looking for a summary of excerpts from the top authors in this category (Gottfried, Nohl, Tuchman, etc.), this slim (174 pages) compilation that appeared in 1999 fits the bill.

Short easy-to-read chapters from selected authors and works cover the history of the plague and other early European diseases, their spread, treatment, impact and death toll. A chronology, recommended further reading, and excerpts from documents of the times are all useful tools for continued reading.

My own interest in the subject was its association with early trade routes; scholars now know that the plague (actually, plagues as there were three main varieties: bubonic--transmitted by flea bite, pneumonic--transmitted directly from person to person, and septicaemic--insect-borne but less understood, always fatal but very rare) most likely began in the Asian steppes and spread via the land route to the Crimea to the Black Sea region and thereby by the ships of the Venetian and Genoese traders to Sicily, Venice and Genoa, and thereby throughout the Mediterranean. ( )