One hot July day a woman walks out of her house and starts dancing. She dances for hours and then days. Soon other people become infected with the dancing plague and before long hundreds are uncontrollably dancing in the streets. Sounds like a great science fiction story, right? Well it actually happened in Strasburg, Germany in 1518.
In his book The Dancing Plague, author John Waller recounts the strange events of that summer and gives detailed background information as to the circumstances that could produce such a phenomenon. I greatly enjoyed this book and found it fascinating and informative. My only wish is for a little more information in regards to a possible physical cause, such as a virus or food poisoning. Waller contends that psychological distress was what drove these people to dance and he paints a vivid picture of the religious and cultural circumstances which would lead to a group of people to become plagued by dancing.
If you enjoy narrative nonfiction, historic accounts of events or just learning strange things that will make you think, then this is a great book. An interesting conversation starter at your next party could be, “So I just read this book called The Dancing Plague…”
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