- Paperback: 448 pages
- Publisher: Harper Perennial; Reprint edition (Mar 22 2007)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0007162227
- ISBN-13: 978-0007162222
- Product Dimensions: 20.3 x 13 x 3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 136 g
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #558,750 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Referring to publication of the Paston letters, the "literary sensation" of 1787, Horace Walpole said, "I cannot bear to be writing when I am so eager to be reading." The letters are a collection of roughly 1,000 documents written by four generations over the course of some 70 years that provide astonishingly intimate insight into late medieval English life during the tumultuous War of the Roses. The Pastons began as peasant farmers, rose to the status of minor Norfolk gentry and strove mightily to improve their lot through the courts, business and marriage. In this multigenerational biography, Castor tells their story as a sweeping whole and allows readers to understand these people's mental world, one so alien to us and yet strikingly familiar in the most unexpected of ways. Much of their story revolves around the acquisition of land and how they tried (not always successfully) to keep it out of the hands of their sometimes violent neighbors. Castor, a history fellow at Cambridge University, nicely summarizes the complexities of 15th-century politics and culture without losing her momentum. Beautifully paced and splendidly retold, Castor's tale of one family trying to survive and thrive against the odds is popular history at its best. 8 pages of color photos, 1 map. (Apr. 11)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From School Library Journal
Adult/High School–Castor takes as the basis of this scholarly yet readable book the trove of letters written by members of a 15th-century English family who had climbed into the ranks of the lesser aristocracy. Other writers have taken advantage of this incredible collection, but Castor offers both the letters and a comprehensive and nuanced grasp of the world in which the Pastons lived. She has created realistic portraits, from Judge William to his embattled son John and John's hardy wife, Margaret, to their sons, the irrepressibly optimistic Sir John and his reliable stay-at-home younger brother and namesake, John. The author uses the family's story to illuminate a nation in which the Wars of the Roses had eliminated all of the old certainties for its inhabitants and forced them to think anew. Good-quality color photos and illustrations are included. For anyone who is interested in history or the Middle Ages, this book is highly recommended. For anyone who thinks that this period was boring, it's a necessity.–Ted Westervelt, Library of Congress, Washington, DC
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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First Sentence
PASTON VILLAGE, NORFOLK. 1400. Against the immense East Anglian sky stood the imposing silhouette of a newly built church, its flint walls bearing witness to the prosperity, as well as the piety, of those who worshipped there. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
PASTON VILLAGE, NORFOLK. 1400. Against the immense East Anglian sky stood the imposing silhouette of a newly built church, its flint walls bearing witness to the prosperity, as well as the piety, of those who worshipped there. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.6 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews)
21 of 21 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Absolutely engrossing., May 14 2006
By Nicholas Warren - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Blood and Roses: One Family's Struggle and Triumph During England's Tumultuous Wars of the Roses (Hardcover)
I can't praise this book too highly. On one level, it is the story of a tumultuous period in late mediaeval (15th century)England (The Wars of the Roses). On another level, it is the detailed story of the rise of the Paston family from a bondsman farmer (tied to the land) to gentry who could marry into the aristocracy. The interplay of these two brings alive the former. Along the way, Helen Castor tells the more circumscribed story with numerous asides explaining the significance of things we would find difficult to relate to today (e.g., the vaguaries of legal rights to land, or the severe economic consequences of selling a forest to pay debt), but which were so important at the time.If you have any interest in history at all (particularly English late mediaeval, though not, by any means, restricted to that) do read this book. Helen Castor writes beautifully and brings the period alive.
This is anything but "dry-as-dust" history - it will carry you along like the best of Dumas, even though it is non-fiction. Brava Helen; I can't wait for the next.
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
a great read, Dec 26 2004
By litchick "litchick" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Blood and Roses: One Family's Struggle and Triumph During England's Tumultuous Wars of the Roses (Hardcover)
How little people change! In a world of chicanery and deviousness with a civil war raging, how does a family fend off enemies and progress in wealth and status? Castor uses the private correspondence of the Paston family to weave a fascinating story of a family's struggles and survival during the War of the Roses.Battles, beheadings, political mayhem, worrying about the son in London who seems to be a spendthrift dilettante and the daughter sleeping with an employee when she should be aspiring to at least a knight if not a duke. It's all here along with whether it is better to rescue your wife trapped in the manor surrounded by men with crossbows, or let nature take its course!
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent but sometimes complicated story of landownership in early modern England, Oct 26 2006
By B. Pym - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Blood and Roses: One Family's Struggle and Triumph During England's Tumultuous Wars of the Roses (Hardcover)
I enjoyed this book very much. It is specifically about the family's history during the period of the War of the Roses, and this time really comes alive with all of its uncertainties and political instability. The book occasionaly gets mired in extensive detail about the property problems faced by the family - but certainly shows how much has changed in terms of security of land tenure and property rights since this period. It probably helps to have some initial knowledge of Plantagenet vs. York issues to get into the book, but as a layman myself, I was able to follow the bigger story, of deposed kings and usurpers fairly easily, and was thoroughly engrossed as well in the personality profiles of the kings, princes, peers, and queens depicted.
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