A Distant Mirror

"Wise, witty, and wonderful . . . A great book, in a great historical tradition." Commentary

The 14th century gives us back two contradictory images: a glittering time of crusades and castles, cathedrals and chivalry, and a dark time of ferocity and spiritual agony, a world plunged into a chaos of war, fear and the Plague. Barbara Tuchman anatomizes the century, revealing both...

"Wise, witty, and wonderful . . . A great book, in a great historical tradition." Commentary

The 14th century gives us back two contradictory images: a glittering time of crusades and castles, cathedrals and chivalry, and a dark time of ferocity and spiritual agony, a world plunged into a chaos of war, fear and the Plague. Barbara Tuchman anatomizes the century, revealing both the great rhythms of history and the grain and texture of domestic life as it was lived.

巴巴拉·W·塔奇曼（Barbara W. Tuchman，1912—1989），美国著名历史学家、作家，1963年和1972年凭《八月炮火》与《史迪威与美国在中国的经验，1911—1945》两度获得普利策奖。她偏爱以文学的方式书写历史，她的文字充满戏剧性和画面感，在充分发掘史料的前提下伴随着意味深长的议论和反思。其作品深受大众读者和费正清等历史学家的推崇。

奥利弗·B·波拉克曾这样写道：“作为历史学家，塔奇曼不是在为其他历史学家们而写作；在她的著作里，字里行间，千百万大众读者通过她的文字感受到了历史的精彩之处。”