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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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 Europe Middle Ages Crusade
Vivid Storytelling • Impressive Historical Detail • Perfect French Pronunciation • Engaging Narrative • Scholarly Research
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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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Why oh why do some authors read their own works. Writing is a talent, and a skill. So is reading. The readers voice would be OK for a short time, but this is a very wordy book and a long one. Her voice is hard on the ear after a few moments. She speaks rapidly, which is usually a good thing, but in this case she’s hard to follow. Many people can carry a tune but few make great singers because it’s the tone that matters. The same as true of a reader. She is articulate and clear speaking with good diction, but the tone of her voice is harpy. I’m disappointed. I want to hear the information in this book. I think it’s valuable but I fear I may have to buy the printed version and read it myself.
Please, please authors, put your ego aside and pay someone to read your books!

I gave up. Ruined by the reader. Argh!

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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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The writing reads more like a story rather than a textbook or other historical books i’ve read. Even though I already knew most of the info in the book, I was still at times gripped with suspense for what comes next. It was in my opinion what every historical book should be like. At times I got emotional, and the epilogue gave me chills. It may be slightly outdated in some minor areas but I feel it could definitely still be used as a scholarly source to this day.

beautiful writing

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The 14th Century must have been a horrible time to live. Wars, riots, torture, massacres, plague, pillage and corruption were common. The lessons of Barbara Tuchman’s scholarly yet readable history led to one conclusion: people can be very bad!

I learned a lot of medieval history from “A Distant Mirror,” and what I learned did not offer hope. Royalty was often incompetent; the nobles were selfish and brutal, the peasants bigoted. Even a relatively decent and pragmatic man, like the central figure the Lord of Coucy, was capable of cruelty.

The book is very long. Too much was about battles I had never heard of, royal alliances that don’t matter today and nobles whose names are long forgotten. My mind often wandered as I listened, like, what’s for dinner tonight?

The narrator was clear, and her pronunciations of foreign names and words sounded right, but she read too quickly. That kept the book moving, but it made it more difficult to grasp who was doing what to whom.

Plague and Pillage, Bullies and Brigands

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incredible information, explored through one person's life as a great story and examination. listen twice.

so much information

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Tuchman not only makes the middle ages come alive, but through story passes on vital lessons we need today.

History lives!

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If you are a historian of the middle ages, this may be your ticket. A personal, family lineage type description of the 100 years war and more. The story is outstanding, but man, is it long.
I only wish there was a way to zero in on some historical time frame and listen bit by bit. But in the audio format it's only numerically labled.. all 70 plus of them.
Again, a great story, but you need a lot of patience listen day after day.

Long, Long, and Long

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I had tried to read this book before and thought the audiio book would be easier. It was still a lot like reading an encyclopia...lots of names, dates, and places but no thread to make it relevant.

Tedious

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I’m not a history buff, but I found this book interesting and enlightening. The narrator was superb

Great historical narrative

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