A review by lauradzpz
Medieval Bodies: Life, Death and Art in the Middle Ages by Jack Hartnell

informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

  Medieval Bodies is a wonderful study of life, death and everything in between during the Middle Ages. 

It has been a real pleasure reading this book, it’s too common to come across non-fiction books that are not properly structured or contextualized but that is definitely not the case, Medieval Bodies has excellent historical context and a good structure with a clear development of ideas. 

            In this book Hatnell paints a very complete picture of the Middle Ages. He analyses a wide and diverse range of interesting subjects (medicine, race and racism, culinary practices, traveling or cartography to name only some) all of them connected through a common thread that gives its name to the book: the human body. Treating each body part as a chapter, the author throws light on how people lived at the time and the extent of the medieval understanding of the inner workings of bodies. 

            It’s also a beautiful book with very well selected coloured pictures that masterfully illustrate the text and help us immerse even more in this interesting historical era. 

            Finally, it should be noted the vast research task undertaken by the author that becomes clear just taking a look at the bibliography, also organized according to the multiple topics discussed in the book.