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4.06 AVERAGE
4.06 AVERAGE
Barbara Tuchman is an author for whom topic is utterly irrelevant, but chose to give life to tumultuous 14th century France and resurrect Enguerrand de Coucy, a notable French nobleman of the era, in order to spin around him a swirling vignette of Catholic Schism, the 100 years war, The Black Death, all interlaced with striking observations and wrapped up in poignant and musical prose. If she had written phone books for a living they would undoubtedly be considered 20th century literature.
informative
slow-paced
challenging
slow-paced
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
This was like reading a high fantasy novel with no magic or redemptive narratives. The brutal and senseless Middle Ages that comes through in this book explains why George RR Martin wrote his fantasy world the way he did, but doesn't explain anyone else's (the well-perfumed medieval world of the Kushiel's series is as far removed from this as Vulcan). I would like to see someone's fantasy treatment of the completely off-the-hook Pope vs. Anti-Pope schism that persists until the end of the book (and the century).
challenging
informative
slow-paced
My favorite history book ever, I think. I've bought it twice and had it given to me once; not a book I want to be without.
Wow, what an accomplishment. All of: surviving the 14th century, as the Sire de Coucy almost does; research and writing this compelling history so well as to make it a page turner, as Tuchman does; and spending two months of 2020 reading it, as I did...!
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced