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Title: Enlightening for the layperson.
Review: While Manchester acknowledges that he's not an expert in the era, I found the book to be excellent popular history that gave me a much greater feel for the era than weightier tomes ever would have done (since I never would have read them). His intoductory chapter on what it was really like to be a medieval peasant was a real revelation to me (I've seen far too many Hollywood versions of Robin Hood). Life was truly "nasty, brutish and short." When I tire of the pain and agony of modern life I only have to read the first 80 pages of this book to realize that we are now living in the best of times (all of our teeth, antibiotics, and hot water). I would recommend the book to any general reader interested in a feel for a far-gone era who isn't interested in becoming an expert.
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