The Court

by Kathryn Hinds

Describes court life during the Renaissance, from about 1400 to 1600, explaining how various rulers governed and help shape European civilization.

Genres: History

80 pages, Library Binding

First published December 1, 2003

About the author

Kathryn Hinds grew up near Rochester, NY, then moved to New York City to attend Barnard College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. She now lives in the beautiful mountains of north Georgia, but migrates back to the southern shore of Lake Ontario nearly every summer. Although Kathryn has held a variety of jobs—waitress, administrative assistant, early childhood educator, research assistant, editorial assistant, French and Latin tutor, library information specialist—writing has been her constant occupation. Her published works include poetry, short stories, a coauthored book on Celtic mythology, and more than fifty nonfiction books for children and young adults. Her most recent books are the fantasy novel The Healer's Choice; The Forty, a collection of short stories co-authored with James Palmer, with photographs by Fox Gradin; and a volume of poetry, Candle, Thread, and Flute. Kathryn teaches English at the University of North Georgia.

Reviews

[Snail in Danger (Sid) Nicolaides · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe more like a 2.5.

Somewhat more economically aware than many books for on this topic for this demographic. It has excellent illustrations (well-chosen, many of them not frequently seen), though for the most part they are not well-identified. (The source collections are listed in the front of the book, and some of the captions identify the artist, which should allow for identification in many cases.)

I wonder about some of the specific facts. For example, the author claims that Catherine de' Medici and Diane de Poitiers eventually became friends; this is very counter to my understanding of that situation. The author does not use footnotes or otherwise identify specific sources, which is another weakness of this book.

For younger readers, I think the What Life Was Like series would be better. For older or more advanced readers, a biography which deals heavily with a specific court, like Alison Weir's biographies, might be better. This could be suitable as an introduction to the topic, though.