The World of King Arthur

Rating:
Summary: Great intro to Arthurian literature and history
Review: An excellent survey of Arthur and his legacy from ancient Rome to modern Hollywood. Anyone interested in seriously looking at Arthur should begin with this very readable book. Also - lots of great pictures!

Rating:
Summary: A Brilliant Introduction...
Review: I am new to the Arthurian Legend, and I found this book to be an AMAZING resource. It tell the history brilliantly. It is really thorough in following through history the different authors that have contributed to Arthuriana.

More importantly to me, it has given me a roadmap of books to read so that I can learn more about King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table.

The pictures that he has chosen are amazing. I would have like to see some clarification on some of the pictures of the maps that are included. But some of the pictures from some of the older versions of Tennyson's Idylls of the King, and some of the originals that Claxton used in the original Le Morte D'Arthur area really amazing.

Overall, a GREAT resource if you want to learn about some of the historical aspects of Arthuriana.

Rating:
Summary: An unbiased Arthurian survey
Review: I love this book. Before finding it, I swam through websites and a few books. I was looking for historical/archeological information, as well as the sources for the Arthurian myths and legends. Most of what I found was, at best, mildly biased, and, at worst, based on wild conjecture (see Norma L. Goodrich's "Guinevere").

Snyder has done an incredible job pulling together resources, and laying them out in a honest factual (yet entertaining) way. The reader can draw her own conclusions. In addition, the reader is led to other resources to further study any of the fascinating strains of the Arthurian phenomenon.

The pictures are most interesting! This would make a fabulous text books for British literature or British history teachers.