I have to confess that I am a little bit of a reality TV addict. I am just very interested in how people live. This interest spreads into a general interest in people and culture. I love books that are journal format (Dear America, Bridget Jones Diary, Ophelia, etc) because I feel like I get to eavesdrop. Isn't that like the most fun in the world?
Well, this book combines all those reality TV guilty pleasures with actual history. It is a "history" book but it is written like a travel guide. It breaks down every principle to the basic ideas and then expounds upon them. Very informative while being sooooo interesting!
Medieval England's social structure is completely different from the modern world we know and love. Even the basic "Christian" beliefs are different. Not only was deodorant not invented yet, it was thought that taking a bath could kill you. Think about life without indoor plumbing, toothpaste, band-aids, Advil. The average person lived to be 38. 38? That is not that old. How old are your parents right now. My Dad is 59. He likely would have been dead for the past 21 years.
I am always amazed that people could live at all without modern conveniences. I just don' t know how a person could even consider living without a microwave. Why would anyone WANT to do that. It just seems unfathomable. But that is history. Everyone has ancestors who were alive at that time. I don't know where mine were, but they very likely could have been in England not bathing and dying at age 38. Who knows?
This book used facts and historical events to capture my imagination more than Survivor EVER has.
