A review by dwgradio
A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century by Barbara W. Tuchman

3.0

It is hard to imagine a work of history more relevant to our own time than this one. We are beleaguered by COVID-19, the 14th century by Bubonic Plague. In the US, we have spent 20 years watching our tax dollars pay for what seems like an endless adventure on the other side of the world, with no real goals or gains. The Hundred Years War was felt by the populations of France and England to be equally fruitless, and the burdensome taxation that financed it a source of deep resentment. The Papal Schizm and clerical excess caused many to distrust the church, much the way sexual abuse and the ridiculous prosperity gospel drive people to disaffiliate with religion today. And of course the conflict between Islam and Christianity never really went away. 40 plus years after its original publication, the mirror of the 14th century has only grown closer.