tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14072474.post5368072862700276611..comments2023-11-03T06:36:27.305-04:00Comments on Phronesisaical: The Pillars of the Earthhelmuthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09069600766378586919noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14072474.post-30699783801793572902011-06-14T13:01:23.198-04:002011-06-14T13:01:23.198-04:00More from me on the twelfth and thirteenth centuri...<a href="http://phronesisaical.blogspot.com/2011/01/more-about-twelfth-and-thirteenth.html" rel="nofollow">More from me on the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.</a>Cheryl Roferhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11082102629165547210noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14072474.post-73729248804815437522011-06-14T07:41:14.670-04:002011-06-14T07:41:14.670-04:00Absolutely, Joel!
A Distant Mirror and Jean Gimpe...Absolutely, Joel!<br /><br /><em>A Distant Mirror</em> and Jean Gimpel's <em>The Medieval Machine</em> were the two central books that set my big question about those times. How could things have been going as well as Gimpel describes in the twelfth century and then come apart so badly in the thirteenth?<br /><br />I think that the answer is precisely the kind of politico-religious backlash we're seeing now. That's a long story, although I don't know I could stretch it to 973 pages.Cheryl Roferhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11082102629165547210noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14072474.post-52881507600600469552011-06-13T15:00:52.403-04:002011-06-13T15:00:52.403-04:00You've read Barbara Tuchman's A Distant Mi...You've read Barbara Tuchman's <em>A Distant Mirror</em>, I hope.joel hanesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14072474.post-42025470649370677012011-06-13T14:43:40.958-04:002011-06-13T14:43:40.958-04:00Agreed. Given the book's popularity, I had ex...Agreed. Given the book's popularity, I had expected much better writing.<br /><br />Early Michener (<em>Hawaii</em>, <em>The Source</em> seems to me to succeed where Follett's <em>Pillars</em> does not -- later Michener not so much.joel hanesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14072474.post-11876503633076910332011-06-13T11:03:34.605-04:002011-06-13T11:03:34.605-04:00This is a period that fascinates me. I think that ...This is a period that fascinates me. I think that in the hundred years between about 1160 and 1260, a direction was set that has been played and replayed, most recently in the US, starting with the 1950s or 1960s. Societal progress, followed by religious repression.<br /><br />I've thought of writing a book about it, but original sources are few enough that the book would have to be a novel. And I'd be making up a lot, like all the other novelists do, so it would be as much about me as whatever actually happened.<br /><br />Ah, for a time machine!Cheryl Roferhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11082102629165547210noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14072474.post-35614156367543976332011-06-13T09:45:18.706-04:002011-06-13T09:45:18.706-04:00The Richard Harris stuff is better, and try "...The Richard Harris stuff is better, and try "The Doomsday Book" which feels a bit out of date now (as SciFi) but has some good descriptions of the period.Paul Guinnessynoreply@blogger.com