Title: Not at all what I expected
Product review: This was quite a disappointing book. The one positive aspect of the book: there is plenty of information on the social, cultural, economic, religious, and intellectual climate of the 14th century. Unfortunately, the information is hopelessly scattered throughout the book without much organizing principle at all. It's a sloppy stream-of-conscious collection. 1) his conclusions are scattered pell-mell thoughout the text, 2) there is no logical procession of his argument, 3) his bias is very apparent in certain passages (especially when discussing the nobility), 4) in his infinte pedantry, he sticks in random pieces of information that have absolutely no bearing whatsoever on the argument he is making (that is, to the degree he is making a clear argument at all), and 5) details of the plague are often mentioned in passing. The book is a decent collection of random facts - not much else.
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