A Distant Mirror Audiobook By Barbara Tuchman cover art

A Distant Mirror

The Calamitous 14th Century

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A Distant Mirror

By: Barbara Tuchman
Narrated by: Aviva Skell
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Buy for $30.76

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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

Accolades & Awards

National Book Award
1980
Middle Ages National Book Award Europe Crusade
Vivid Storytelling • Impressive Historical Detail • Excellent Narration • Scholarly Yet Readable • Fascinating Information

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I had trouble keeping up with dates and events. Nonetheless, the book painted a vivid picture of the era. I learned that what we learn from history, is that we don’t learn from history.

Beautifully narrated, but long.

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

Masterful Portrait of a Tragic Era

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I wouldn’t recommend this unless you’ve got an intermediate grasp of French language and French history otherwise you’ll be left in the dust fairly quickly.

Intermediate French

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detailed yet concise for covering an entire century. my one complaint was the reader's pronunciation of the word, 'sire.' she pronounced it 'seer.'

comprehensive

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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.

Difficult to Follow, untranslated French, many dates and names

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