A Distant Mirror

The Calamitous 14th Century

De: Barbara Tuchman

Narrado por: Aviva Skell

The Bubonic Plague of the 14th century killed one third of all human beings in Europe and Western Asia; many who survived the plague killed each other in the Hundred Years War that followed. What was it like to live in this calamitous century, when knighthood (and much more) died a violent death? Find out.

©1978 Barbara W. Tuchman (P)1984 Recorded Books

Masterful Portrait of a Tragic Era

Tuchman’s voice shines among the greatest historians in the English language. This book was an incredible journey.

Difficult to Follow, untranslated French, many dates and names

Some very interesting material in the first 6 chapters on life in Europe during the Middle Ages but in chapter 7, she starts to focus on an individual French nobleman and it becomes an incredibly fast paced whirlwind of French names, dates, and places without any grounding context or cohesiveness. There is also a fair amount of French that the author doesn't bother to translate and a significant number of references to events, people, and places that are not explained or explored. The book feels like it was written for other experts on the period and not the casual history fan. There are still pockets of interesting cultural information and you can sometimes piece together what seems to be happening but the book is read at an incredible speed which leaves the less informed reader in the dust. The French pronunciation is perfect I am sure but if you are unfamiliar with the spelling of french words, as I am, you can't even look up the material yourself to flesh out what you don't understand.

Overall, despite the interesting first 6 chapters, probably not worth the time unless you are already an expert on the Hundred Years' War, speak French, and already have thorough background knowledge of French medieval history. Not for the novice. However! The reader is a greater narrator and has that wonderful old school, ambiguous North Atlantic accent.

beautiful writing

The writing reads more like a story rather than a textbook or other historical books i’ve read. Even though I already knew most of the info in the book, I was still at times gripped with suspense for what comes next. It was in my opinion what every historical book should be like. At times I got emotional, and the epilogue gave me chills. It may be slightly outdated in some minor areas but I feel it could definitely still be used as a scholarly source to this day.

Tedious

I had tried to read this book before and thought the audiio book would be easier. It was still a lot like reading an encyclopia...lots of names, dates, and places but no thread to make it relevant.

Great historical narrative

I’m not a history buff, but I found this book interesting and enlightening. The narrator was superb