Everyday Life in Medieval England

Rating:
Summary: Academic and dry
Review: Dyer's book consists of a series of essays on topics ranging from why villages declined in England in the middle ages to changes in diet to gardens, peasant buildings and the peasant's revolt of 1381. Yet unlike the tremendous breadth and depth of Paul B. Newman's far more engagingly written "Daily Life in the Middle Ages," Dyer's book seems to be as much about justification for why Dyer's view of life in the middle ages is accurate as about actual medieval life. This book is written more for the academic who cares deeply about sources for what is known than what is known itself, and the dry style and format (intro, argument, conclusion, and lots of footnotes, charts and tables) won't win many fans outside academia.