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4.06 AVERAGE
4.06 AVERAGE
challenging
informative
slow-paced
Tuchman is an excellent writer and thoughtful historian, but this book is much too overlong. She attempts to get every bit of information she possibly can onto each page, and it makes for a very dense and, at times, overwhelming reading experience, even for someone who studies the middle ages for a living. Fascinating and impressive, but a bit too unwieldy to be strictly 'enjoyed.'
It's also quite outdated from a scholarly point of view, but that's true of most works from the 70s, so it's not a true drawback.
It's also quite outdated from a scholarly point of view, but that's true of most works from the 70s, so it's not a true drawback.
After reading a book full of information I didn't know, that enlightened me about an era many of my favorite fiction books are set in, I feel I should have more to say but I don't seem to have much.
It was a good book if a bit of a slog at the end.
It was a good book if a bit of a slog at the end.
A terrific read, and as the title promises, a very distant mirror of ourselves - making it a thought-provoking, but not overly depressing, vacation read.
challenging
dark
funny
informative
slow-paced
adventurous
informative
reflective
slow-paced
This book is incredible. The prose alone is worth reading; Tuchman writes this expansive history as good as any sprawling fiction. 14th century Europe — the central focus of her work — included the plague, the Hundred Years War, a papal schism, some other heresies, and social upheaval. At times, it get like reading Game of Thrones in the cast of characters, betrayals, scheming, etc.
challenging
informative
slow-paced
One of the few books I revisit again and again. I have worn out, loaned or given away more than a dozen copies of this book over the last couple of decades.
Wonderful, insightful and profound.
Wonderful, insightful and profound.
informative
medium-paced