Customer Reviews
Original and informative social history - By: M. Davey, 11 Nov 2008 
There are already many studies of the Black Death, The Peasants' Revolt & detailed scholarly works on this period of history but this book is quite original & should appeal to a wide readership. The use of the present tense works so well & helps to conjure up a graphic picture of the times. The author draws on a great deal of other studies & develops it into a vibrant overview of what it might have been like to livein this century. I loved it!
Simply superb - By: Mr. A. Moore, 02 Nov 2008 At school I hated history mainly because it was learning boring dates & events.
This book changes all of that; it tells me what I wanted to knowin an easy to read & extremely enjoyable way.
What will I seein a 14th Century street, who will I see, what des it smell like, what will I eat, how do I address people I meet? All of this & more is coveredin this excellent book. Each chapter deals with a different aspect of the period such as the city, the town, the village etc. Very clear & very informative; ideal for casual interest, school pupils, university history reading & so on.
I won't go into the details because that would simply spoil things for you so I suggest you get this book & be transported back some 700 years.
It simply brings history to life.
An Essential Guidebook for the Medieval Time Traveller! - By: Lady D., 26 Oct 2008 I think that I can safely speak for many of usin the historical community (both writers & readers) when I say that we are -in the nicest way of course - rather nosy. That is, we want to know all about people from different times: what they looked like; what they did; how they did it. For instance, have you ever wondered whether peoplein the fourteenth century wore nightdresses or what the well off used to wipe their behinds with (I have!)? How about their pastimes, sense of humour or the difficulties of travelling?
Ian Mortimer's latest book: The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England - A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century certainly satisfies that craving for knowledge of the minutiae of daily lifein the Middle Ages. The book is lovingly researched & well written with a light sprinkling of humour that makes it very easy to read. The stylein itself is very original for a non-fiction historical book, using a `guidebook' approach that is a million miles away from the stuffiness of many `academic' books. Yet, happily, the book does not suffer from a lack of sincerity or historical integrityin any way.
The topics cover a broad range of subjects for the `traveller' from what the landscape will look like to what to wear, where to stay when travelling, & how to address different kinds of people that you will meet along the way. And then, of course, when they invite you to eat with them, you will know what food to expect. And then, of course, there is always the danger of falling ill. The Time Traveller's Guide is once again at hand to tell you not only what may be wrong with you (hopefully not the plague, or leprosy!) & what medicine is available to help cure it.
This book, then, is a wonderful read. To be fair, I could not find fault either with the style or the information it offered (much to my frustration - as I always like to find at least a little criticism to balance things). To anyone who loves this period it will open up new doors to understanding the social history of the time. For writers of Medieval fiction, it is a valuable sourcebook - full of the little details that we need to make our stories come alive.
So yes, I heartily recommend this book as worth every penny
