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4.06 AVERAGE
4.06 AVERAGE
I spent so long taking notes on years ago in the SCA -never thought I'd need those notes for my thesis!
informative
reflective
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
challenging
informative
slow-paced
slow-paced
What a great primer on the 14th Century. It makes me wonder if there are any more recent books covering this period in such depth. If you are interested in writing fantasy or roleplaying set in traditional medieval settings, this is a great resource.
A wonderfully detailed and engaging look at 14th century France. I studied the Middle Ages during college, so I had some basic understanding of the time period, but Tuchman brought out so many of the little details and personalities that make the century come to (horrifying) life. Unless you like chaos, meaningless wars, and plague, you don't want to visit!
The narrator of the audio book made the reading much easier - providing the proper French pronunciation and even a bit of humor into the reading.
The narrator of the audio book made the reading much easier - providing the proper French pronunciation and even a bit of humor into the reading.
adventurous
challenging
informative
slow-paced
Elegantly written, detailed history of France and England in the 14th century. Challenging only for its length, easily read and understood. Wonderful choice for history buffs.
Published in the late 70’s, this book is cited from time to time as a history recommendation. While I appreciated this book, I found myself stymied by the audio version as the narrator is one of my least favorite voice readers: the high pitched and heavily accented speaker is really difficult to understand at times spoiling what would otherwise have been a much better experience. In spite of that I would still like to read Tuchman’s WWI account and just hope it’s not the same voice narrator.
An ambitious work that is as chaotic as the times it describes. The material itself was absorbing but the delivery was a failure. The author tackles too many battles, names, and intrigue that it all gets jumbled up. It was too easy to get lost or confused that I often had to reread pages twice to retain everything being tossed together. The book is incredibly well researched but the author misguidedly attempts to throw as much information as possible all at once that it becomes tedious reading. I can appreciate a scholarly tone so long as it's organized and focused but this was too messy and more pedantic than anything. I felt the book would have benefited from chapters that covered specific themes instead of attempting to follow this mishmash format of a novel. The author feebly attempts to use the biography of Enguerrand VII, Lord of Coucy as the unifying agent of the narrative but he too often disappears into the backdrop as the author erratically shifts focus from one point to another. Her jumping from one thought into a weakly connected tangent distracted from the main argument and was unnecessarily frustrating.
History is often derided as a useless and boring subject probably in part to writers like Ms. Tuchman. What should be engaging and open to those interested is reduced to the mere dangling of names and dates above heads.
I am left wondering who she intended the audience of this book to be. She was so fond of including snippets of Middle English and foreign languages, (great!) but without translations because she just assumes that this must be common knowledge. I did understand from my existing familiarity with these languages but with no thanks to the author who smacked of arrogance and smugness. The question must be asked : Did she write this book to actually share this data with others or just to prove how much she knows and congratulate herself on it?
The medieval period is one of my favorite eras in history and for this reason alone I credit the book for having presented enough information to have made it interesting and palatable. However, I do not imagine myself ever reading another book by this author.
History is often derided as a useless and boring subject probably in part to writers like Ms. Tuchman. What should be engaging and open to those interested is reduced to the mere dangling of names and dates above heads.
I am left wondering who she intended the audience of this book to be. She was so fond of including snippets of Middle English and foreign languages, (great!) but without translations because she just assumes that this must be common knowledge. I did understand from my existing familiarity with these languages but with no thanks to the author who smacked of arrogance and smugness. The question must be asked : Did she write this book to actually share this data with others or just to prove how much she knows and congratulate herself on it?
The medieval period is one of my favorite eras in history and for this reason alone I credit the book for having presented enough information to have made it interesting and palatable. However, I do not imagine myself ever reading another book by this author.