A Time Traveller’s Guide to Medieval England, Ian Mortimer
Flashback Friday review from 1st April, 2013 (but unfortunately it wasn’t a joke)
As a history book, this is an interesting format and it’s reasonably engaging, though by the end I was starting to get worn down by the sheer level of detail. But what bothered me was that apparently, if you want to time travel, you’d better be male: there’s some lip service paid to actually discussing women’s role in society, with some references to the kind of work women did (mostly: make ale, I gather), and quite a lot of reference to the kind of clothes women wore, and how likely women were to be assaulted and raped, but. We hear about monks and not about nuns, about merchants and not about their wives, about farmers and not their daughters.
And don’t give me the excuse about that not being interesting to read about: nor is intricate detail about what a monk can eat on which days, for most people.
In summary: to time travel, apparently you have to be male. And only men are interesting. Slightly disappointed I paid for this book right now.
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