DWD's Reviews

A Real Treat As An Audiobook Published by Whole Story Audio Books Read by the author, Robert Lacey Duration: 5 hours, 50 minutes Unabridged Robert Lacey has done something that many writers have failed to do (unfortunately) - he has written history in a fun, accessible, easy to grasp manner. After all, as Lacey points out in his introduction to Volume 1, the "history" and "story" come from the same Latin root word. Essentially, history should be the simple story of how things happened, to the best of the teller's knowledge. Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400) Lacey's power as a storyteller is highlighted here in spades. He narrates his audiobook as well so there is the added bonus of hearing the author add nuance to the reading - essentially reading it the way he meant it to be heard. The stories are short and entertaining. Only a couple of times in nearly six hours of listening did I find my attention wandering. This is a terrifical

Interesting collection Sir Edward Creasy published a book called Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World: from Marathon to Waterloo in 1851. His original work was expanded in 1964 by Lt. Col. Mitchell in order to create Twenty Decisive Battles of the World . In some cases, Mitchell corrected factual errors in Creasy's original work that came to light since it was first written. The main criteria for picking these twenty battles was that the battle had to have a lasting impact on the war it was a part of and also have a lasting impact on history. For example, the Confederate victory at the battle of Chancellorsville in the American Civil War was not chosen despite the fact that it was brilliantly fought by Robert E. Lee. The Confederacy went on to lose the war and the victory at Chancellorsville may have prolonged the war by a few months at most. On the other hand, Mitchell picked the Vicksburg campaign as a battle that was decisive in the history of the world because it spell

Patterson switches up big time James Patterson Known for his murder mysteries, James Patterson and co-author Andrew Gross decided to try something new and have given us The Jester , a fun, fast-paced adventure set in war-torn medieval Europe. Hugh De Luc is a happily married innkeeper until he heads off to fight in the Crusades. The gruesome fighting and wanton disregard for life change and sicken him so he deserts and heads home only to find his wife taken captive and his infant son dead. At this point, Patterson is on more familiar ground. Hugh De Luc must find out who did it and try to bring him to justice. Unfortunately, medieval customs and laws interfere with that search. Throw in some religious relics and a menacing group of French knights who believe they are condemned to hell and you have the indgredients for a fine book. Patterson's descriptions of medieval life ring true, although the ending may not have worked out so well in a real medieval sce

Strong, but not for those who are not well-versed in history   Alister McGrath Let me just note that Alister McGrath has taken on a large topic (Protestantism) in Christianity's Dangerous Idea and done about as well as one can in organizing the information and presenting it in a cogent and readable fashion. McGrath assumes that you already know a lot about history in general and about the last 500 years or so in particular. That is to be expected. If he had to explain every last detail this book it would have to have been 3,000 pages rather than the already hefty 478 pages of text plus 50+ pages of endnotes. If you are a person that has heard of the Huguenots, but is not sure if they are a native group in South Africa or a religious group in France, this book is not for you. This is not a complete history, either. It is an overview. If you are looking for a complete history of a particular denomination, you are likely to be disappointed. Some denominations

Disappointed Anthony Pagden's Worlds at War: The 2,500-Year Struggle Between East and West was a book I was really looking forward to reading. It sat on my wish list for months and when I saw it just sitting there at my local library I greedily snatched it up and considered myself lucky to even have found it checked in. Thank goodness I did not waste my money buying it. I suppose the problem with a book of this nature is that it is bound to disappoint - some things will be "too" highlighted, some left out. Even worse for this book, niggling factual errors crop up that bother the careful reader and throw into doubt the validity of the more complicated interpretations of the work as a whole. Positives: The book is quite readable and you must give a tip of the hat to anyone who undertakes such a large and sweeping history. Negatives: The anti-religious comments taint large sections of the book: "...nor have I made any attempt...to disguise

A Viking book that's less of a "bash 'em, slash 'em" book and more of a legal thriller So, you pick up a book about Icelandic Vikings and what do you expect? Well, if you're like me you expected a lot of men with long hair brandishing swords and axes along with lots of blood and longboats, much like the Saxon Chronicle books of Bernard Cornwell. A Viking Longhouse Kari's Saga starts out with just that - a failed attempt to burn a rival's longhouse. But, there's a twist. Iceland is trying to limit the the amount of violence that plague the island (revenge killings and so on). The Icelandic Vikings are actively trying to be more creative in applying Viking laws and the legal system to limit this violence. Notice I said limit, not end it - these are, after all, Vikings. Throw in the threat of political change (invasion from Viking kings back in Denmark - Icleand had no king, just a loose collection of weak semi-feudal lords) a

Brian Fagan's The Little Ice Age: How Climate Made History, 1300-1850 is, by definition, an introduction to the climate phenomenon of the same name. Actually, it is quite similar to a History Channel documentary of the same name. On page xix Fagan notes that historians are either "parachutists" (big picture) or "truffle hunters" (love all of the details of one particular era or topic). Fagan warns that this is a parachutist book - an overview. So, what of this overview? Fagan starts with the Vikings and covers an area that is better covered by Jared Diamond's Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed . However, his stories of how the fishing industry was affected by the shift to a colder climate was surprisingly interesting. A lengthy discussion of how the colder climate change brought more disease, famine and general mayhem is punctuated by the single best one page description of the changes in farming methods that came about in t

It's math, it's history, it's a lot of fun Released in 2006. I watched The Story of 1 when it premiered on my local PBS affiliate and I thought it was a lot of fun and full of loads and loads of interesting history. As a world history teacher, I am always on the lookout for something that can tell our story with a twist. This one does it quite nicely. Terry Jones in a still from the DVD The documentary is narrated by Terry Jones of Monty Python fame. It tells the story of man's use of the number one (and other numbers, but the focus always returns to the number 1) throughout time with a humorous twist. It explores early uses of math, why mankind had to develop math, why the Roman Numerals were inferior to our current system and continues on to the modern use of binary numbers. As soon as I saw it I knew I wanted it for my history class. It will be great as a different sort of review of the history that we have studied thus far. I rate this DVD 5 st

Joan of Arc (1412-1431) I am always in a quest to find a sizable number of historical fiction titles to use in my class. I bought this book in the hope of adding it to my classroom collection, and I will do just that. However, I also was hoping to be able to enthusiastically recommend it, as I have been able to do for many other titles. That I cannot do. I have no problem with the historical details of the book. Rather, I was unimpressed with the writing. It tended to drag and be a bit repetitive. Reluctant readers will be turned off. I was also expecting more about Joan of Arc. Instead, we are treated to a fictional female friend named Gabrielle who wants to be a midwife and doctor that follows Joan to the battlefield (the Dove, to Joan's sword - thus the title). So, it joins my collection, but I will only be recommending it to those specifically interested in Joan of Arc, rather than as a general recommendation. I rate this book 3 stars out of 5. This b

A history teacher's perspective Avi You may wonder what a high school world history teacher is doing reading a book by Avi. Well, here's the deal - I am searching for high quality historical fiction in a variety of reading levels for a future project for my class. Avi's Crispin: The Cross of Lead fits the bill perfectly for my students with lower level reading skills. Set in Medieval England, Avi creates an interesting story and accurately depicts the toil of a peasant's life, pointing out some of the more interesting aspects of that time in history, including the plague, the power of the church, the massive amount of illiteracy, the filth, and more. What I like about it is that Avi writes a simple book without talking down to his readers. This book fits my classroom's need wonderfully. For all of you teachers out there I strongly recommend it. I rate this book 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Crispin: The Cross of L

Good information but told in a repetitious manner that wore this reader down A witch burning Cawthorne's Witch Hunt: A History of Persecution is a recounting of the witch hunt craze that infected not only Salem, Massachussets, a topic with which most Americans have a least a passing familiarity, but throughout Europe to a much, much larger degree. The back of the back says that this book "...examines this persecution and the religious hysteria which inspired it." To me the use of the word examination implies that the author will interpret this hysteria and make observations and insights throughout the reading . Cawthorne does not do anything close to this, with the exception of a brief, four page introduction. Rather, he recounts witch trial after witch trial, often going into great detail about the tortures used and the indictments brought against the accused witches. While this is an impressive bit of research, the book felt half-done. It was as

A piece of history, yet still accessible I should note that I am a lifelong Lutheran and Martin Luther is one of my personal heroes, despite his numerous and many flaws. An Open Letter on Translating is a September, 1530 letter to Luther's critics concerning his translation of the Bible from Latin into German. This was very controversial at the time and it led to a lot of disagreement (even wars) over who should be allowed to read the Bible and who should interpret its meaning. Martin Luther (1483-1546) Luther defends his translation in his very best combative style. He correctly notes that not all turns of phrases translate literally from one language to another. He notes, along with a liberal dose of insulting names for his opponents, that he and his team of translators did a lot of research and took great care to make his translation accessible and accurate. What is perhaps most amazing is that this document is amazingly readable for anyone conversant with the iss

Historically solid and entertaining . I just discovered this series and I've been reading a few of them for fun this summer. You Wouldn't Want to Live In A Medieval Castle is entertaining and it contains solid, accurate history presented in a visually interesting format. While I've been lookig a few of these over for my own personal entertainment, my almost 4th grade daughter has been sneaking them out of the stack and reading them without any encouragement from me.  The book mostly is about a little girl who is brought into a castle to work as a damsel (lady-in-waiting or a bodyservant). The book is also about a real historical event - the siege of Rochester Castle in Kent, England in 1215 by King John who is having trouble dealing with the barons after he signed the Magna Carta. There is also quite a bit about a young page who is trying to become a squire so that he might become a knight someday. Everyday life in the castle is discussed (carrying

St. Margaret of Castello Fascinating The Woman in the Cloak is a novelization of an actual historical figure, St. Margaret of Castelo. She was born a blind, hunchbacked dwarf with a withered leg. Despite these infirmities, and the rejection by her parents, she never feels cursed by God. Rather, she spends most of her relatively short life helping the poor of the small city of Castello. She lives with the beggars and the working poor, offering her help as a midwife, a free nanny and someone who is willing to go beg for food for the destitute. Margaret joins an order of Nuns, but they are not very serious about their vows and she is soon expelled as a troublemaker. So, she joins the Order of Penance of St. Dominic, a mostly male Order. There, she returns to her work on the streets. Eventually, her health fails her and she dies of a hacking, bloody cough. Up to this point, I found this story interesting and moving - here's a lady with the deck stacked against her in so m

Historical problems - but great acting. The movie makes some cheap, ineffective attempts to give the Joan of Arc story a bit more punch - including a "prophecy" from Merlin and the mischaracterization of the 100 Years' War as a War for France's freedom from Britain. However, there is some good acting in this movie, especially from Peter O'Toole - he brings humanity to a character that could have easily been a one-dimensional, generic bad guy. Is it a great movie? no Is it entertaining? Yes - and you get the bonus of watching a real pro like O'Toole show you how its done. I rate this movie 4 stars out of 5. This movie can be found on Amazon.com here: Joan of Arc . Reviewed on July 15, 2004.

I only discovered Mouse Guard last week and have already shot through both volumes: Fall 1152 and Winter 1152. Now, I am eagerly waiting for more to come out. You really need to start with Mouse Guard: Fall 1152 in order to understand what is happening in Volume 2. For some, the action is too slow, but I think Petersen has paced the story fairly well. In just this volume, a fearsome hunter is defeated, a hero dies, a new hero takes up his mantle (?), two romances start, a traitor is exposed, a political settlement is achieved (?), the good guys save the day and they may have discovered a fearsome threat to their homeland that they didn't realize was quite so close. Throw in all of this with some of the most beautiful comic art I've ever seen and you can see why I find Mouse Guard to be such a treat. I ratee this book 5 stars out of a possible 5 stars. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Mouse Guard: Winter 1152 by David Petersen . Reviewed June 21, 2010