Interesting non fiction about the Middle Ages time period etc

[Kendall]

I'm looking for non fiction books about anything in the 400-1600 time period.   Things along the line of How The Irish Saved Civilization  or biographies.

I am looking for books particularly for my 10th and 12th graders, but if you have a title that's a little young I'll take that, too. I've got an 8th and 6th grader as well.

Thanks,

Kendall 

 

[Bocky]

Barbara Tuchman, A Distant Mirror: the calamitous 14th century (Europe - an excellent book by a well respected historian) 

David Howarth, 1066: the year of the conquest (Norman conquest of England - relatively short and very readable book by a professional history writer)

Gavin Menzies, 1421: the year China discovered America (Ming Chinese treasure fleet - fascinating speculative history by an enthusiast)

For your 6th and 8th graders, Oxford University Press has a very readable series the Medieval and Early Modern World, including Hanawalt, The European World 400-1450, Pouwels, The African and Middle Eastern World 600-1500, Des Forges and Major, The Asian World 600-1500 and I think there is an Americas volume too, possibly part of the World in Ancient Times series.

[Farrar]

Terry Jones's Medieval Lives has a book. Also, The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England was cute. In the Wake of the Plague was okay - it's short, which is always a benefit. So many history books are just dense. 

ETA: There's a book about Richard II and Saladin which is shortish and pretty good too. I can't think of the title right now though.

I can think of many things about the 1600's... Tulipomania is great, and everything I've read by Holly Tucker, and The Ghost Map.

 

Edited July 19, 2019 by Farrar

[royspeed]

Kendall:

Here's a really good read, perfectly suited to the ages of your students:

• The Year 1000: What Life Was Like at the Turn of the First Millennium, by Robert Lacey and Danny Danziger.

—Roy Speed

[chiguirre]

I recently read The Map of Knowledge:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41563262-the-map-of-knowledge

It explains how the learning of antiquity was preserved in Arab centers of learning and then transferred back to Europe via Spain. The final chapter is a brief history of early printing. It puts medieval Europe in the wider context of the whole world at the time.

[elegantlion]

I'm a medieval English historian, my reading list in quite large. 

Of the above books, I have not read The Map of Knowledge and I'm not a fan Barbara Tuchman's book, the others I would recommend. 

A few others I'd recommend include: 

1215: The Year of Magna Carta - its about the same level as the Year 1000 and 1066 books.

There is a book of 4 about England including:  An Imperial Possession (Mattingly), Britain After Rome (Fleming), The Struggle for Mastery (Carpenter), and The Hollow Crown (Rubin)

Seven Myths of the Crusades  - a little deeper read

Medieval Households (Herlihy)

Family Life in the Middle Ages (Mitchell) - This one touches on family issues in the Medieval West, Byzantine East, and in the Islamic World. 

The Vikings (Roesdahl) 

The Middle Ages is such a large swath of time and once you move passed general textbooks the field divides in areas of expertise very quickly. So if you have particular regions or area of interests, I might be able to make more pointed recommendations for primary sources or relevant literature and perhaps a movie or two. 

 

 

[Zoo Keeper]

Just seconding 1215: the Year of the Magna Carta...

And we liked 1493.