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Title: Everyday Life in the Middle Ages (Everyday Life Series) by Sherrilyn Kenyon ISBN: 1-58297-001-7 Publisher: Writers Digest Books Pub. Date: April, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 2.75 (16 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Good as a concise reference
Comment: I got a copy of this book because I was looking for a concise reference on the middle ages for fiction writing, primarily as a source of names and terminology. For this purpose, the book satisfied my needs. I found the vocabulary lists throughout the book particularly helpful. I don't have the expertise to comment as to whether the book is any good as a historical reference.
Rating: 3
Summary: Doesn't match the hype, but a great starting point
Comment: On my first or second reading I would have given book a negative review. I think that was because of the awe-inspiring title: "The Writer's Guide to Everyday Life in the Middle Ages: The British Isles from 500 to 1500". That in itself was enough, an almost impossible premise for any book to live up to, particularly one that is only 232 pages (counting the index). But the back of the book adds more hype, suggesting it will provide all the facts you need to write about food, clothing, medicine, royalty, heraldry, vocabulary and war in a period that spanned 1000 years and saw massive social and technological change.
By that standard it fails. This book will only get you started. But by that second definition, a "starting point", it's excellent. I have ultimately come to love it and regularly use on it as my first source. At the end of each chapter is a bibliography of books that go into a lot more depth on each topic. And the chapters, while short, are well organized and for the most part decently written, giving a good introduction to the topics mentioned earlier as well as a brief overview of kings of the middle ages (both in the British Isles and nearby places such as the Scandinavian countries and France) and invaluable discussions of the different ethnic groups that populated this place and time, with chapters on Anglo-Saxons, Britons (Welsh), and Vikings, among others.
Yes, you can find most of this stuff on the Internet. But who wants to surf through dead links and long-winded URLs trying to find out who was king of Scotland in a particular year? Besides, some of the places I go to write don't always have internet access. You have to have a few books.
Among the book's faults are the pictures, black-and-white photos apparently of friends dressed for re-enactments. Vikings didn't really wear those stereotypical horned helmets, yet she includes a picture of a strapping blonde Viking wearing one. Another shows a young man wearing a thirteenth-century cape and some hip modern glasses: groovy, but probably not accurate.
Faults aside, this is still a great starting point for any historical fiction writer's library. If I could only keep five of the pile of books I've accumulated while writing a story set in 1033 England, this would be one. I do wish Kenyon had expanded it to another hundred pages and provided more detail (particularly regarding how things changed in specific centuries and maps). I would have especially liked to see more specifics in the lists of words that end many chapters. Sometimes they appear to be French, for example, but there's no indication where or exactly when they were likely to have been used.
Rating: 4
Summary: Not nearly as bad as everyone makes it out to be.
Comment: So there's a few historical inaccuracies. So the cover is that goofy orange, with Queen Elizabeth (though she shows up nowhere in the book). So it's filled with silly photos taken from a low-budged Renaissance Festival.
I still found this book EXTREMELY useful. The reviewer that said that you should use this as a springboard hit the nail right on the head. No, the facts aren't extremely detailed. No, they're broad-ranging. But it's enough presented here to get your imagination working, and several books are listed to check out for further information.
I found the clothing timeline to be very interesting and detailed (and accurate for the most part). Plenty of information on festivals, holidays, musical instruments, vocabulary you might use, etc. There's even a nice long listing of saints, and some of the Crusades.
The thing to remember is that this is a writer's guide only. If you're looking for quick facts, this book is perfect for you. If you don't want to fish around in 8 medieval textbooks to find out what your hero might have eaten for dinner, get this book. Sherrilyn Kenyon is a romance author and quite honestly, if you're a romance author looking to pick up some easy facts on English history for some research, this is your book. Those actually trying to do in-depth research will, most likely, be disappointed.
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Title: Fantasy Lover by Sherrilyn Kenyon ISBN: 0312979975 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: January, 2002 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: The Writer's Guide to Everyday Life in Renaissance England: From 1485-1649 by Kathy Lynn Emerson ISBN: 0898797527 Publisher: Writers Digest Books Pub. Date: September, 1996 List Price(USD): $18.99 |
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Title: Everyday Life in the 1800s: A Guide for Writers, Students & Historians by Marc McCutcheon ISBN: 1582970637 Publisher: Writers Digest Books Pub. Date: March, 2001 List Price(USD): $16.99 |
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Title: The Writers Complete Fantasy Reference: An Indispensable Compendium of Myth and Magic by Writer's Digest Books, Writer's Digest, Terry Brooks ISBN: 1582970262 Publisher: Writers Digest Books Pub. Date: November, 2000 List Price(USD): $15.99 |
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Title: Night Pleasures (Dark-Hunters) by Sherrilyn Kenyon ISBN: 0312979983 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: September, 2002 List Price(USD): $6.50 |
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