This is an excellent overview of the crazy, bloody end of the Middle Ages, especially well suited to open the eyes of romantics who think medieval times were as they are depicted in myriad fantasy novels. Being a fantasy author myself, it is always refreshing to read a book that reaffirms that it just 'tain't so. Manchester seems to have precious little sympathy for the medieval mindset, but he does fairly explain it, without the tedious need to try and impose modern values on people who've been dead for 500 years. As with the other book of his that I've read, "American Caesar", this is a solid, well-researched and very readable book.

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