It was fun to read an advance copy. Thanks!

Take Care.

I’m half-way through The History of the Ancient World and I’ve been loving it. As soon as I saw The History of the Medieval World was out I bought it without a second thought. They way you present history with mythical accounts, archaeological evidence as well as with references to modern popular culture makes me feel linked to the past in a way I’ve never felt before. Thank you for the incredible gift of your writing! Writers like you and Jared Diamond have made history one of my favorite subjects!

I made a mistake by beginning with historical fiction. What was I thinking? How could I have missed the obvious: The Saxon Chronicles? There had to be more than one book, right?

Actually, I didn’t begin with TSC, but made a brief, unproductive attempt at Mabinogion (without Cliff notes). I might have pronounced the names correctly, but reading them for hours on end was a bit tiring. The overall layout of the collection is somewhat clearer now (in truth, I had no clue prior to this first attempt), but the preface that was supposed to illuminate the text must have been written with only Welsh-speaking Welsh scholars of Welsh literature in mind, as it was so dense as to be mostly incomprehensible (to me, that is). The purpose of these stories – to entertain? – is lost on me. I must be too far removed from the stories to have been pulled into them. The storyline never did pull me in. In the end, I couldn’t really make sense of it, but I did learn a new word – calumniated, meaning “falsely accused”– from that impenetrable preface, which discussed the theme of “the calumniated wife.” As far as I understood the tales, they made me glad to be married to my husband and living today in the USA.

While we’re on the subject of being glad to be here (and now), Bernard Cornwell’s series is bloody, gory, and addictive. This was a story that pulled me in, even though in one sense I didn’t want to be part of that violent and turbulent world. There was a narrative force to the Saxon Chronicles that took me through murder, war, rape, pillage, crucifixion, slavery, torture, severed heads, prostitution, child brides, spousal abuse, sorcery, and Uhtred’s brash and fully expressed hatred of Christianity and Christians. I happen to be a Christian; at times, it felt like a personal attack. I found myself wanting to witness to him, LOL. It would be interesting to sit down with the author and try to figure out how much of the vitriol was Uhtred, just being his pagan self, telling his life’s story, and how much was Bernard Cornwell. Interesting….

At any rate, I endured the battering and belitting of my faith, along with all the medieval mayhem, because the rage pouring forth from Uhtred was true to his character. He sincerely hated Christians, and I can handle that. If I could sit down with Uhtred… well, I’d rather not, at least not without a fully-loaded automatic weapon. But Uhtred’s story fizzled out for me in the last book, I’m not sure why.

I’ve previoulsy commented on the first book in the series, The Last Kingdom. The second book was The Pale Horseman, which takes place during the time when Alfred was hiding out in the swamps of Athelney. Pale Horseman was followed by some additional reading on Alfred, who seems to be hard to pin down. I’m certain that the animosity of Uhtred (Cornwell?) towards Christianity impacted his (their?) portrayal of Alfred, who is painted in a bad light throughout the series. The histories I read were overal more favorable, and revealed how even historical fiction can have a strong bias and leave out so much.

The third book was Lords of the North. More gore, more war – again – but the book did make me ponder the tragic lives of slaves, and the prevalence of slavery in those times. And today? The storyline for book number four – Sword Song – was set in “Lundene,” and left me thinking, along with its narrator Uhtred, about the inexorability of war. Uhtred tells us, “Alfred wanted peace, but peace fled from him and [enemies] came, and he had no choice but to fight. [Later], more [enemies] came… and what can a man do but fight for his land, his family, his home and his country? I look at my children… and I know they will have to fight…. So long as there is a kingdom on this windswept island, there will be war. We cannot flinch from war. We cannot hide from its cruelty, its blood, its stench, its vileness or its joy, because war will come to us whether we want it or not.”

Despite the violence, these were thought-provoking books, in some ways, but I am worn out with Uhtred’s story. When the fifth book came in at the library, I checked it out, brought it home, read one page, and took it back the next day. It wasn’t the vulgarity or the profanity or the Christian-bashing that did me in, although that was tiresome. It was the warrior’s life, Uhtred’s life, that wore me out, I suppose.

On to something better — such as The History of the Medieval World! I’m only on Chapter Two. We were out driving today, and I was trying to read about the Three Kingdoms and the Jin dynasty in the van, but my husband was listening to classical Spanish guitar (think: frenetic). I gave up on reading. The music and the book didn’t juxtapose for me. I kept picturing a medieval, guitar-playing Chinese bullfighter.

A thousand congratulations to you! That is a fabulous accomplishment and an amazing opportunity!!

I began the “History of the Medieval World” a week ago, and all I would like to say is – thank you. You present History as I enjoy to experience it! (And, I like the witticisms – “… apparently unable to think of a better solution, invited the Quadi king to a banquet and murdered him”. Nice touch!)