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alexbrownbooks 's review for:
A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century
by Barbara W. Tuchman
This was unwise, but if autocrats always acted wisely they would not furnish history with moral lessons.
At last, I have finished this hefty history, and yes, it was worth it! It's dense, but it's fascinating and witty, too. I never realized how much of our modern world has roots buried deep in the 14th century. Capitalism, workers' rights, the Reformation? You can see it all brewing here. Class struggle amidst the tyranny of the 1%, religious conflict, vainglorious leaders, technological advances without equivalent advances in strategy or ethics, general bewailing of the darkness of the times/the loss of all morality/the sense that no time has ever been so lost to hope as the current age -- wait, are we talking about the 1300s or the now? This is a book that's eye-opening in the broad sweeps, and filled with memorable anecdotes on the small scale, too. My love affair with Barbara Tuchman continues!
At last, I have finished this hefty history, and yes, it was worth it! It's dense, but it's fascinating and witty, too. I never realized how much of our modern world has roots buried deep in the 14th century. Capitalism, workers' rights, the Reformation? You can see it all brewing here. Class struggle amidst the tyranny of the 1%, religious conflict, vainglorious leaders, technological advances without equivalent advances in strategy or ethics, general bewailing of the darkness of the times/the loss of all morality/the sense that no time has ever been so lost to hope as the current age -- wait, are we talking about the 1300s or the now? This is a book that's eye-opening in the broad sweeps, and filled with memorable anecdotes on the small scale, too. My love affair with Barbara Tuchman continues!