"Wise, witty, and wonderful . . . A great book, in a great historical
tradition." Commentary
The 14th century gives us back two contradictory images: a glittering
time of crusades and castles, cathedrals and chivalry, and a dark time
of ferocity and spiritual agony, a world plunged into a chaos of war,
fear and the Plague. Barbara Tuchman anatomizes the century, revealing
both the great rhythms of history and the grain and texture of domestic
life as it was lived.