A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century

Written by:
Barbara W. Tuchman
Narrated by:
Wanda Mccaddon

Unabridged Audiobook

Ratings
Book
35
Narrator
10
Release Date
December 2005
Duration
28 hours 42 minutes
Summary
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.”
Reviews
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Anonymous

great

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Timothy McDonough

Another fine work by Barbara Tuchman. If she wrote it, if you love historical nonfiction, you'll love the read.

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Tom Clayton

The title says it all. People have not changed much as a group in 600 years. The Black Death is hard to believe. Entire families and towns wiped out. Bodies put in deep holes then covered by some dirt and then more bodies like making lasagna, a graphic I will never forget. Technology has changed what we can do but not why we do it. Fighting each other is not rare, in fact it seems to be the norm. With perspective obtained over longer than lifetimes, there is still a chance that we will evolve into something better. The 4 for narration is simply that narrators should not have accents that make it harder to understand what is being said, particularly fast paced narrations.

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Rodney Stroh

Exceptional book and excellent narration; an indispensable key to the past!

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mary reynolds

It takes a while to adjust to the narrators fast pace and the huge amount of information, but it is worth the effort. It's one of those that should be listened to over a long period of time, in pieces. The emphasis is on French history but its a vast tale of a time that shaped the world.

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Lauren D.

Loved it. Constantly interesting, well paced, informative, and entertaining.

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