Take a photo of a barcode or cover
alexlubertozzi 's review for:
A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century
by Barbara W. Tuchman
I am always amazed at people who don't seem to enjoy or understand the relevance of history. Trying to understand the present without a knowledge of the past is like trying to figure out what's wrong with a clock by examining its face. It's like being a leaf that doesn't know it's part of a tree.
In Tuchman's comprehensive look at 14th century Europe, we see the beginnings of our modern market economy, the notion of romantic love, trade unions, urbanization, nationalism, anti-semitism (portents of the Holocaust), ideas of chivalry in warfare being torn down by advances in technology, and on and on. I found this book to be endlessly fascinating, told in a lively and engaging manner.
The title, A Distant Mirror, refers to our own calamitous 20th century, with its own ongoing wars, revolutions, genocides, famines, and plagues. While our 20th-century descents into madness were more efficiently devastating, Europe in the 14th century was an everyday kind of madness. Reading this sort of history makes me believe in an evolution of human civilization (distinct from human evolution, which I believe happens on a much longer timeline). Despite the sometimes eerie similarities between the 1300s and 1900s, I would still argue that this book will give you a new perspective on just how far we've come.
In Tuchman's comprehensive look at 14th century Europe, we see the beginnings of our modern market economy, the notion of romantic love, trade unions, urbanization, nationalism, anti-semitism (portents of the Holocaust), ideas of chivalry in warfare being torn down by advances in technology, and on and on. I found this book to be endlessly fascinating, told in a lively and engaging manner.
The title, A Distant Mirror, refers to our own calamitous 20th century, with its own ongoing wars, revolutions, genocides, famines, and plagues. While our 20th-century descents into madness were more efficiently devastating, Europe in the 14th century was an everyday kind of madness. Reading this sort of history makes me believe in an evolution of human civilization (distinct from human evolution, which I believe happens on a much longer timeline). Despite the sometimes eerie similarities between the 1300s and 1900s, I would still argue that this book will give you a new perspective on just how far we've come.