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A review by hannah_hethmon
Medieval Bodies: Life, Death and Art in the Middle Ages by Jack Hartnell
5.0
A gorgeous book. A treat for all the senses. This book, which leads you through Medieval perceptions of the body, one part at a time (from hair to anus) is at once both readable (and often hilarious) for the general reader and satisfyingly thorough for the medievalist/academic.
There's a beautiful full color image at least once every few pages, illustrating the incredible range of texts and objects the author references in his survey. Examples range from the Icelandic sagas to Moroccan travel memoirs. The ability of the author to cover such a wide territory (literally) and depth of subject matter without getting to jargony or dense is incredible.
If you only read one book about the Middle Ages, this should be it. If you have read many books about the Middle Ages, you won't want to miss this one.
There's a beautiful full color image at least once every few pages, illustrating the incredible range of texts and objects the author references in his survey. Examples range from the Icelandic sagas to Moroccan travel memoirs. The ability of the author to cover such a wide territory (literally) and depth of subject matter without getting to jargony or dense is incredible.
If you only read one book about the Middle Ages, this should be it. If you have read many books about the Middle Ages, you won't want to miss this one.