Customer Reviews

Images of the Medieval Peasant (Figurae: Reading Medieval Culture)

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Freedman's "Images of the Medieval Peasant" has a virtue truly uncommon to modern scholarly publications. A pleasure to read, and yet rigorous enough to use even in my graduate courses as an example of social history writ large, this volume appeals across varying academic readerly spectra--including non-specialists and undergraduates. Freedman's prose is lucid and engaging, with a flair for the literary that suits his topic well. Particularly outstanding are the chapters in which he treats Biblical justifications for peasant oppression, and I would not hesitate to assign these chapters as stand alone reading in my undergraduate lecture, given that the purchase price of the book is relatively affordable.

The accompanying bibliography, though dated slightly by the book's 1999 release, is still very much a useful source. The copious endnotes, too, serve as excellent jumping-off points for further research. The author's use of art historical material is admirably broad, and serves to compliment his arguments nicely. Essential reading is the text of Freedman's introduction and conclusion, which eloquently bookends the volume with a sense of purpose and overriding structure.

For specialists, a fundamental monograph worth owning, and for the casual reader, a rewarding challenge, "Images of the Medieval Peasant" occupies a well-earned place on even the most crowded of office shelves.