The Wars of the Roses

by on November 5, 2012 at 9:58 pm
Posted In: Books

Osprey’s title on the Wars of the Roses is typical of their Man-at-Arms line. Half the book is a good simple history of the period, and a fairly solid introduction to it. There’s no details, no sense of the people, but given the proverbial confusion that the Wars can engender, this cut-down summary seems to be a good place to start.

It is also nice in that it manages to point out a fair amount of ‘received fiction’ in the normal accounts, beginning with a paragraph-long description of the Wars, and then stating “A familiar story perhaps: but not containing a word of truth.”

It’s an early Osprey book, so the color plates are good without being great. However, the discussion of the plates is extra long, and informative.

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Battles of the Samurai

by on August 23, 2012 at 9:32 pm
Posted In: Books

Just finished reading Stephen Turnbull’s Battles of the Samurai today.

While it is exactly what the title implies, a study of nine battles from Japanese history (ranging from Kurikara in 1183 to Sekigahara in 1600), it is also a good primer of Japanese history from the 12th through 16th Centuries. Writing in 1987, Turnbull assumes his audience has no more than the sketchiest knowledge of Japanese history, and gives extensive backgrounds to each battle.

As such, it is very readable and enjoyable, and establishes a few points in history which further readings can attach themselves to. In my case, it helps tie in the The Tale of the Heike (which I just started rereading), Nobunaga’s Ambition II (which was playing about when this was published), and of course, Sekigahara: Unification of Japan. In addition, there are a number of photographs of the (then-)current condition of the battlefields, and monuments, along with commentary of how best to visit the sites.

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A Distant Mirror

by on July 14, 2012 at 11:00 pm
Posted In: Books

I finished reading Barbara Tuchman’s A Distant Mirror a couple days ago.

I’ll admit I was a bit surprised when I started it. I wasn’t expecting a 600-page book in 8-point type in oversized paperback format. This is a long read.

And that length is put to good use. A Distant Mirror is indeed a history of just about the entire 14th Century, mostly focusing in France. Politics, peasant rebellions, the Black Death, knights, religious peculation, schism, it’s all there; it was a busy time. This is very good narrative history. It’s not a very ‘scholarly’ treatment of the time, but it pours out page after page of people, events, and quotes of contemporary chronicles, and fills you with a distillation of the events of a place which is revealed to be every bit as complex as today.

The central conceit of the book is that it follows the life of Enguerrand VII of Coucy, a fairly prominent figure of his time about which little is known past the facts of the places he shows up. This makes it resemble the book Alison Weir’s Eleanor of Aquitaine wanted to be. Her book was supposed to be a biography, but due the lack of information about Eleanor herself, it is not satisfying as such. A biography of Coucy would be just as unsatisfying, but as he is is just the focal point, the point through which the world is viewed, instead of the actual subject of the book, it works quite well.

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The Fall and Rise of Cavalry

by on May 9, 2012 at 9:30 pm
Posted In: Books, History

Ospery has been doing a bunch of ‘Battle Tactics’ books recently. I think it would have been neat if they’d made them their own line, instead of just part of the Elite series. I decided to start off with the recent European Medieval Tactics (1) by David Nicolle. It’s a quick guide to early Middle Ages tactics; as such, there are pieces I knew already, and pieces that echo other books I’ve read. However, it’s all put together here very well. David Nicolle is one of my favorite Osprey authors, and he does not disappoint here.

Technically part of the Elite line, it follows the general format of the series. However, instead of the usual eight full-color plates of various soldiers of the period, they are all bird’s eye views of various battles in progress, that illustrate things very well indeed (part of one of these is on the front cover), accompanied with a decent 1/3rd page description of the action. Also, there are another seven battles given a traditional black-and-white schematic illustrative treatment. In part thanks to the period, while I’m already familiar with some of the battles, many I don’t know, or don’t even know as much as the little given in the book tells me.

In all, it really brings together its subject well (especially the earlier parts) and brings things into better focus. I will have to get more of the books in the Battle Tactics line that Osprey has been publishing lately.

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Lost to the West—A Good Light History of Byzantium

by on February 21, 2012 at 2:20 pm
Posted In: Books, History

Lost to the West is a very good readable brief history of the Byzantine Empire, and I recommend it as such to anyone who would like to familiarize themselves with the subject.

However, the subtitle “The Forgotten Byzantine Empire that Saved Western Civilization” suggests a particular thesis for the book, which it does not follow. Byzantine culture is brought up on occasion, as well as the rise and fall of education during various periods. However, ‘saving Western Civilization’ only comes in at the end with the population fleeing the Ottoman Empire, and bringing copies of various Roman and Greek works that had lost in Western Europe.

I’d kind of like to see a detailed look at just how certain works have been transmitted down from ancient times to today, but that is a specialized subject, and not part of this book. Similarly, there is only passing mention, at the beginning and at the end, of how ‘Byzantine’ history has been ‘lost’ to Western culture, not least because of how it has been somewhat artificially removed from ‘Roman’ history.

But it is good, light, general history, and if you enjoy it, I highly recommend the author’s podcast, 12 Byzantine Rulers, which was done to go along with this book. Conversely, if you enjoyed the podcast, you will enjoy the book.

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