A review by primerstar6
A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century by Barbara W. Tuchman

2.0

i'm utterly overwhelmed by the ridiculous level of detail in this book. I don't really need to know how much of every single thing was served, worn, or purchased for every major fete in France or England at the time. There was no reason for it either, for we aren't given any kind of insight into what these people's motives were. And naturally, because of the time in history, we're told a TON of names of people we've never heard of before, then long paragraphs will follow where the author repeatedly says "he" did this or that, and i've forgotten who "he" is even supposed to be.
Someone please edit this thing down and maybe I can finish it. I made it about 60% and just couldn't plow thru any more. Another issue of mine? How exactly was this time period a distant mirror? The author didn't mention it in the hundreds of pages i did read.