A Guide to the Medieval Castles of England is a very well written and annotated monograph on the history and features of medieval English fortified buildings by Dr. Malcolm Hislop. Due out 30th March 2024 from Pen & Sword, it's 304 pages and will be available in hardcover and ebook formats.
The
book is arranged with a useful glossary and an alphabetical gazetteer with short (paragraph length) descriptions, followed by a listing of the castles (arranged geographically) so the entries can be read in any
order (there's a good table of contents, but no content index), and "armchair"
travelers can read about the history of the locations they aspire to
visit. The author's writing style is impressively engaging and not at all dry or academic and he does a
grand job of including interesting tidbits about each castle's history
and special characteristics.
The plates include facsimile historical documents, line drawings of floor plans and layouts, modern and archival photos of the buildings themselves, and other interesting minutiae. There's also a solid bibliography which will provide many hours of further reading for keen readers.
Five stars. This would make an
excellent choice for public or home library acquisition as well as for
fans of travel and history.
Disclosure: I received an eARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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