A Distant Mirror

The Calamitous Fourteenth Century

By: Barbara W. Tuchman

Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon

A “marvelous history”* of medieval Europe, from the bubonic plague and the Papal Schism to the Hundred Years’ War, by the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Guns of August

*Lawrence Wright, author of The End of October, in The Wall Street Journal

The fourteenth century reflects two contradictory images: on the one hand, a glittering time of crusades and castles, cathedrals and chivalry, and the exquisitely decorated Books of Hours; and on the other, a time of ferocity and spiritual agony, a world of chaos and the plague.

Barbara Tuchman reveals both the great rhythms of history and the grain and texture of domestic life as it was lived. Here are the guilty passions, loyalties and treacheries, political assassinations, sea battles and sieges, corruption in high places and a yearning for reform, satire and humor, sorcery and demonology, and lust and sadism on the stage. Here are proud cardinals, beggars, feminists, university scholars, grocers, bankers, mercenaries, mystics, lawyers and tax collectors, and, dominating all, the knight in his valor and “furious follies,” a “terrible worm in an iron cocoon.”

©1978 Barbara W. Tuchman (P)2005 Blackstone Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"Beautifully written, careful, and thorough in its scholarship.... What Ms. Tuchman does superbly is to tell how it was.... No one has ever done this better." (New York Review of Books)

"Barbara Tuchman at the top of her powers.... A beautiful, extraordinary book.... She has done nothing finer." (Wall Street Journal)

Exhaustive but exhausting

Any additional comments?

Not too long into this book I started to wonder if perhaps Tuchman was going to cover the life and events of every single person who was alive on this planet during the 14th century. Tuchman covers so much ground, introduces so many events, writes about so many people that by the end I felt as if the entire 14th century had fallen on top of me.

This isn't a bad book by any means - the fault lies entirely with myself. I'm not cut out to enjoy an endless parade of peoples and events that have no clear narrative. And while Tuchman does attempt to frame the century through the life of one man, de Coucy, I never felt like had a clear enough picture of him or how all the events she talks about truly effected him. And I suppose had she drawn a clearer picture then this book would have become more speculative and less factual which would have been counter to her purpose of recounting the events of this tumultuous century.

I should have known what I was getting into because the title uses the word 'distant', as in remote, 'mirror', as in a lens, and '14th century', as in the entire century and every single event that took place during those 100 years. Yet what I've come to realize about myself as a reader is that I prefer the personal over the grand informative, the mundane over the 'calamitous', and the microscopic over the macro. I'm far more interested in learning about how events effected just a few people and not the broad, sweeping strokes that effected all of a society. That's why I prefer literary fiction over this type of nonfiction.

However, Tuchman has produced a supreme work of knowledge and she is an excellent writer. She speaks with humor and wit and is ever lively - even mischievous such as when talking about the pointy shoes - so any failing to not be engaged my this tremendous work is all on me. Yet I still wish I could have gotten a more personal, more minute look at the people who were alive during this century. I felt that after awhile I was watching a parade - Danse Macabre - of tragic life after tragic life. And while it would be unreasonable for me to think many close personal accounts from the century remain (if they ever existed at all), I should look harder to find something that would engage me more than this book was able to.

I wanted to fall in love with this book, but it was far too academic for me, too distant, not nearly personal enough, and overwhelming in scope. I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to learn about the 14th century on the grand scale, but aside from a few points she makes about how religion and death and economics played a role in how people viewed themselves, I don't feel this book is able to (or was even attempting to) paint a clear picture of what it was to be an individual at the time.

Were someone were to write about the 20th and 21st century 600 years later and only wrote about the major headlines of those times I don't think we would have any better idea of what it was to actually be alive at the time than what Tuchman does here. Yes we would learn all about the major historical events of the day, but for me (and this is a matter of personal taste) I'm not interested in that sort of thing, I only care about the individuals and how they lived day to day. Most people do not live their lives according to the headlines.

But the failing is all mine. This is a work of historical nonfiction and not a novel and it attempts to show us the entire century. In that regard it is brilliant, it's just that it's so much information that it's hard to keep it all together. So while I can only critique the book that is and not the book as I want it to be then I have to admit this is a wonderful book and an excellent reading on a very distant time. Yet as as an engaging work that speaks to me as an individual, then I have to admit I failed this book because I'm just not cut out for it.

Informative but dense at times

I see most people seem to rate this book very highly. I don't and found the book a tough listen. I give the author kudos for presenting one of the best peeks into the start of the Renaissance at least from a mostly French perspective. A historian sometimes needs to tell a story in addition to presenting details. When this author is telling me about the bubonic plague or the schism within the Catholic church, she was holding my interest and keeping me on the edge of the seat. Unfortunately, that kind of story telling didn't happen that frequently in this book. I thought Simon Schama's 'History of Britain Vol I' covered the Renaissance (from the British perspective) much better because he never let the history get in the way of good story telling. Sometimes it makes for a better story when you leave things out and look at the big picture instead.

Excellent all round.

The history is almost unimpeachable, and is strikingly written. The narrator does the work justice. All round, excellent.

Interesting approach kept me hooked

Another great book from Barabara Tuchman. I thought the idea of following the life of one man--Enguerrand de Coucy--throughout the book was a successful one, because it gave a good balance of weaving in politics, war, and territorial acquisition with a description of everyday life on all social levels. The book is thoroughly researched and well written, but Nadia May's voice is really starting to get on my nerves. Stop sneering!

Not what was expected

I’d first like to say that I believe this is my first ever review. I am disappointed because I wanted a look into this era’s society not the ruling class. Basically I got 28 hours of “this lord did this and that lady did that.” I had to read between the lines to get a glimpse of what the average person’s life was like.

To be perfectly honest I could have done without ever wasting my time on this publication. However I see where my own misunderstanding of the inaccuracies of recorded lead to my mistake in purchasing this title with the intent I had at the time.

Also, a bit of social commentary. The “nobles” of the past did not stand by the virtue they espoused at all but expected their subjects too. “Do as I say not as I do.”

Good book
Wrong book for me.