A Distant Mirror
by Barbara Tuchman · first published 1600
58% recommend33% neutral8% critical
Why HN recommends it
Engaging, novel-like narrative history of 14th-century Europe: plague, war, schism, and daily life, both familiar and alien. Suits general readers wanting a primer on the medieval era and its parallels to today.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Amazon.com Review In this sweeping historical narrative, Barbara Tuchman writes of the cataclysmic 14th century, when the energies of medieval Europe were devoted to fighting internecine wars and warding off the plague. Some medieval thinkers viewed these disasters as divine punishment for mortal wrongs; others, more practically, viewed them as opportunities to accumulate wealth and power. One of the latter, whose life informs much of Tuchman's book, was the French nobleman Enguerrand de Coucy, who enjoyed the opulence and elegance of the courtly tradition while ruthlessly exploiting the pe
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Not just GDP but also nation-altering events such as warfare. I recommend "A Distant Mirror" by Barbara Tuchman if you haven't already read it, as it's a wonderful book (medieval history, but it still applies here). Tuchman mentions our modern bewilderment at the insanely rash and reactionary…
on “The Lost World of the London Coffeehouse” ↗A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century, by Barbara Tuchman (more famously known for the Guns of August). Nonfiction, but really entertaining. A must read because it's insightful on how different but similar human…
on “Ask HN: What are some must read books?” ↗…concessions. The French ended up having to pay a lot of ransoms through the whole war, and as a result, the nobility and crown were so poor they couldn't prevent banditry and famines. Barbara Tuchman's A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century is a very engaging account of this period.
on “60 knights paused a war to fight a battle royale” ↗If this kind of stuff piques your interest, I highly recommend Barbara Tuchman's A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century. Although it covers a slightly later period, Tuchman goes into fascinating detail about the minutia of daily life, which from our perspective are both familiar and utterly…
on “The expenses of Queen Eleanor of Castile” ↗…recommendation; picked up a copy. Tuchman wrote Guns of August and The Proud Tower about the times immediately before, during and after the start of WWI. I found both outstanding reads and I can only think A Distant Mirror to be worth the time.
on “The expenses of Queen Eleanor of Castile” ↗Some of the books I've read this year that I'd recommend: The Divine Comedy by Dante - It is hard to underestimate how much it has influenced our culture. A Distant Mirror - The history of the 14th century, but engaging like a novel. Name of the Rose - Mystery novel set in Medieval times. On Lisp by Paul Graham - http://www.paulgraham.com/onlisp.html Seasoned Schemer…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2023 and recommend for 2024” ↗Agreed. And yet, you walk away better understanding how those nightmares can become reality. By chance, I picked up Tuchman's "A Distant Mirror" from a sidewalk seller, and was struck by her ability to address so many parts of a whole. After finding that she won the Pulitzer for "The Guns of August", I had to read it. I've heard that JFK was…
on “The piece of paper that fooled Hitler” ↗Those commenting here who haven't done so already should go read A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century. It's a great primer on what life was actually like back then, and what is and isn't known about the details. http://www.amazon.com/Distant-Mirror-Calamitous-14th-Century...…
on “Why a medieval peasant got more vacation time than you” ↗…long time. QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter, by Richard Feynman - for someone who never got science, this book was a beautiful revelation of just how extra-ordinary our natural world is. A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century, by Barbara Tuchman. Probably the best history book I've ever read. There's a reason the woman won two Pulitzer's - such a fantastic writer.
on “Ask HN: Which non-fiction books changed your life?” ↗…encounters the scale of the world right around that age and finds it staggering. If I may suggest some books for you that can help you get answers on some of these themes: "Was it always like this"? A Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchman. About 14th-century Europe: plague, schism, war, economic collapse, social breakdown. Tuchman wrote it partly to show her own generation that calamitous centuries are a recurring feature.…
on “Ask HN: What to Expect in 2030s?” ↗…rich people are laboriously farming rabbits in artificial warrens inside of managed game preserves and poor hungry people get executed all the time for eating. A good book for this era is Tuchman's 'Distant Mirror' which is like Game Of Thrones meets zombie apocalypse. Don't read it if you're French. It may be the reputational nadir of French civilization?
on “Rabbits were a medieval royal luxury in England until the Black Death” ↗+1 for Barbara Tuchman (A Distant Mirror)
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2023 and recommend for 2024” ↗You might be interested in "A Distant Mirror" by Tuchman
on “The daily life of a medieval king” ↗I would recommend reading A Distant Mirror, the book referenced at the start.
on “The Medieval Mindset (2017)” ↗I would recommend reading Bernard Bachrach's review of A Distant Mirror. "...her generalizations about medieval warfare are grossly inaccurate. Her discussions of individual psychology and group psychology are equally foolish. She seems to have little understanding of what…
on “The Medieval Mindset (2017)” ↗