Take a photo of a barcode or cover
essemmarr 's review for:
A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century
by Barbara W. Tuchman
I’ll keep this short… I loved this book, as does most anyone who appreciates good historical writing. She won the Pulitzer twice for a reason (if not specifically for this book).
Starting with the idea that a book based around the century that contained:
- The Black Death wiping out 1/3rd to 1/2 of the entire population of Europe
- The bulk of The Hundred Year’s War between France and England
- A series of peasant rebellions that gave voice to the lowest members of society for effectively the first time ever (Narrator Voice: they did not end well for the peasants, but still)
- etc., and so on, through all of the other Horsemen of the Apocalypse…
might make for an interesting read, Tuchman then goes further by finding the one French aristocrat who somehow managed to be present for almost every important event that occurred during this time AND who left a thick enough documentary record to base a credible history on, AND THEN tops it all off by just writing the shit out of a book covering all of this in great but never-boring detail.
It’s a really great read that touches on all aspects of life for both the Royal Knight at the focus of it all, up to his lieges, Kings of France and England, the Popes of the era, all the way down to the roughest village peasant. She provides SUCH a wonderful sense of the era, rich in detail on how people lived, were fed, worked, worshiped, etc…
It’s a fuckin’ triumph, and anybody who’s interested in the slightest in medieval European history probably already has read this book. If you haven’t, get on it.
Starting with the idea that a book based around the century that contained:
- The Black Death wiping out 1/3rd to 1/2 of the entire population of Europe
- The bulk of The Hundred Year’s War between France and England
- A series of peasant rebellions that gave voice to the lowest members of society for effectively the first time ever (Narrator Voice: they did not end well for the peasants, but still)
- etc., and so on, through all of the other Horsemen of the Apocalypse…
might make for an interesting read, Tuchman then goes further by finding the one French aristocrat who somehow managed to be present for almost every important event that occurred during this time AND who left a thick enough documentary record to base a credible history on, AND THEN tops it all off by just writing the shit out of a book covering all of this in great but never-boring detail.
It’s a really great read that touches on all aspects of life for both the Royal Knight at the focus of it all, up to his lieges, Kings of France and England, the Popes of the era, all the way down to the roughest village peasant. She provides SUCH a wonderful sense of the era, rich in detail on how people lived, were fed, worked, worshiped, etc…
It’s a fuckin’ triumph, and anybody who’s interested in the slightest in medieval European history probably already has read this book. If you haven’t, get on it.