Emily Bush

A breezy, speedy account of death, medicine, and funerary practices in the "Dark Ages."

First, the title of the book is a misnomer: disease, famine, and armed conflict are all common ways to die both then and now. The authors do give some examples of uncommon deaths, like Henry I dying after eating a surfeit of lampreys, but mostly it's recounting the same stuff that was covered in history class.

The authors are not always rigorous in presenting information in a way that distinguishes between show more verifiable facts and apocryphal tales, presenting the legend of Alfred and the cakes in the same way they do instances of the plague.

There is a lighthearted tone to the writing that makes the book an entertaining read despite the gruesome subject, but I do recommend it for anyone looking to educate themselves about the time period.

Received via NetGalley. show less

Thank you to Pen and Sword and Netgalley for the advance copy! As always all opinions shared here are 100% my own.

This was an interesting short read that was a great companion book for someone like me being introduced to the Tudor Era. Each chapter of the book was an introduction to one aspect of life in the era establishing enough context for what's to be expected at the time before sharing plenty of stories of how some people met their demise under such context. For example, I was actually show more surprised at how much death could be caused by sheep. Yes, sheep.

I admit I was surprised at some inclusions from other countries (such as Japan) as I was under the impression that would mostly focus on England but seeing that they were interesting and technically they did fall under the years that comprise the Tudor era, it made sense to me.

I think the only thing that gave me pause was the introduction of some of the illnesses that I am not 100% sure if they should be considered strange or not (seeing that unfortunately some might be fatal even today). That being said, learning about how they were combatted and attempted to be cured at the time was still very informational and great for me to learn.

All in all, though, I found myself learning a lot about what is a very somber topic but with enough lightheartedness from time to time to make the stories memorable and the reader engaged.

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