Rats and the Plague: Reassessing Historical Narratives

New York City’s mayor calls them “public enemy number one.” History books say they caused the Black Death — although recent scientific evidence disputes that claim. So is the rat a scapegoat? And what does our rat hatred say about us? (Part one of a three-part series.)

• SOURCES:
  • Bethany Brookshire, author of Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains.
  • Kathy Corradi, director of rodent mitigation for New York City.
  • Ed Glaeser, professor of economics at Harvard University.
  • Nils Stenseth, professor of ecology and evolution at the University of Oslo.

• RESOURCES:
  • "On Patrol With the Rat Czar," by Mark Chiusano (Intelligencer, 2024).
  • "How Rats Took Over North America," by Allison Parshall (Scientific American, 2024).
  • "Where Are the Rats in New York City," by Matt Yan (New York Times, 2024).
  • "Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains" by Bethany Brookshire (2023).
  • "Human ectoparasites and the spread of plague in Europe during the Second Pandemic," by Nils Stenseth, Katharine Dean, Fabienne Krauer, Lars Walløe, Ole Christian Lingjærde, Barbara Bramanti, and Boris Schmid (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2018).

• EXTRAS:
  • "Freakonomics Radio Live: 'Jesus Could Have Been a Pigeon.'" by Freakonomics Radio (2018).