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pnsk13 's review for:
A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century
by Barbara W. Tuchman
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.