Greenwood Press Daily Life Through History Series

[Brian G Turner]

O.M.G.

I just stumbled upon these on Amazon while idly wondering if I could find something on Byzantine daily life:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=sr_pg...Through+History+Series&ie=UTF8&qid=1372694172

Greenwood Press have an entirely series on Daily Life in different countries and time periods:
http://www.abc-clio.com/series.aspx?id=52021

I'd never have guessed I could actually find something on daily life in Mesopotamia, so have ordered that as well as a few others.

I love my history books, but ones on daily life I find invaluable for writing research.

The Greenwood series is a potential treasure trove.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I've checked some of these out from the library at different times, and I wasn't particularly impressed with them. They give all sorts of details, but no real context. You find out what people wore and ate, etc. but these books provide no real insight into how they viewed their world.

For you, because you've read some of the books that provide context (I've seen you recommend the Gies books, for instance) they could be very useful, but not for anyone who bases their research around them.

Much better is a series that was originally published in France, the titles of which also begin with the words "Daily Life." These books do provide context, and in a very vivid and entertaining way. Not all of them have been translated into English, unfortunately (and for those who read French, I can't vouch for the ones that haven't been, because I don't). You can distinguish these books from the Greenwood books, or any others with similar titles, because the names of the authors are always French, and sometimes because the titles refer to a prominent figure or figures of the period: Daily Life in Florence in the Time of the Medici, etc. They are also older.

Another good series (but there are even less of these) was written by Elizabeth Burton. The titles all begin with "The Pageant of." The Pageant of Stuart England, etc.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Cheers for the recommendations, Teresa - finding the French ones looks like it'll take a little work but I'll look out for those.

The Elizabeth Burton ones I can find tend to be post-mediaeval, which unfortunately is out of my area.

I've plenty of other historical books to provide context on Byzantium and Mesopotamia, so hopefully I'll be able to make them work.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

But some things changed very little over the centuries, and her book about early Tudor England has a lot of information that you might find useful in terms of inspiration. Along with food and furniture and the like, she always reports the oddities you don't tend to find in other history books, details that would fit right in with a fantasy world, if fantasy writers but knew how strange a world our ancestors inhabited.

It's not the best of her books, but it's still a good one to read.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Oh, and is there any particular reason you are interested in Byzantium and Mesopotamia specifically, or are you just looking to expand your knowledge of the world prior to the medieval period?

 

[Brian G Turner]

They are both major influences in my world building, so in theory the more I learn about daily life as opposed to political history, the more inspiration I can use.

I have actually extended my European research to the early Tudor period, so I'll check that out.