Customer Reviews

The Year 1000: What Life Was Like at the Turn of the First Millennium

5 star:		(43)
4 star:		(40)
3 star:		(19)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This is a light, easy-to-read, short, informative, witty, and amusing look at life 1000 years ago, in England. If you are a busybody at work or in life, and don't have time for endless volumes of detailed historical analysis, and want something light, short, and to the point, this is the book for you. Take it on a short holiday, read it on the train on the way to work, or just amuse yourself at home with a lighthearted look at life 1000 years ago. You may be surprised at some of the insights outlined here.

For example their diet was very different to ours. No spinach, tomatoe, potatoe, tea, coffee or chicken. Farming life was hard, and overall hygiene was of little importance, as without knowledge of disease subsistence and survival was placed higher on the list than clean dinner plates. Smelly residences were taken as given, as one simply lived with the inconvenience of dung from animals as part of ones daily life. No smoke from cars, or cigarretes, or noise from airplanes and highways, but smelly dung was eveywhere. There were no forks at the table, just knives. If you dropped your food on the floor, you ate it, but one recited a saintly word for the privelage. Clothes were less flamboyant, but coloured by innovative dyes. The queen in chess was of little importance and power, until Queen Elizabeth came around several centuries later. There sorts of details are just a few of the many intriguing bits of information presented in the book.

There is lots more, but you will have to muse over these in that 21st century train, bus, leather lounge, clean-sheeted bed, or by that modern resort swimming pool yourself. Lucky aren't we? Perhaps in another thousand years people will read about these sorts of things in their different lifestyles, think themselves lucky, and be thankful for our memories and contribution. I have no doubt they will.

In this book, Lacey and Danziger break the year 1000 into twelve chapters, one for each month, and include important events preceding and following that year. The authors then take you back in time to live the life of an anglo-saxon peasant (contrasted with the life of the privileged) on a month-by-month basis. Having read a great deal of English and European history, I found the book well written, accurate (scholarly in its research while almost casual in its style) and placed in such an "every man" perspective as to be an engrossing read. It is a quick read with interesting period illustrations kicking off each chapter/month.

The book is written by journalists, not historians, and that in itself makes it all the more valuable for the general reader. Alas, too many historians write for other historians, and their prose is so stilted and dry as to be unreadable. But this book is a joy to read. Using the Julius Calendar as a device to introduce us to the everyday life of Anglo-Saxons in England in the years leading up to the first millennium, the authors present us with a perfect picture of what life must have been like on a seasonal basis, from January through December. I highly recommend this book to readers interested in the social history of that period who do not wish to wade through a thousand pages of scholarly boredom.

The authors have written an interesting and timely book. I liked all of the factoids and descriptions they gave about life one thousand years ago in England. Fascinating to see how our ancestors did it (life) facing challenges we have long ago conquored. The organization of the book tends to break up the narrative. It is mildly annoying in places, as are comparisons to current news that will, unfortunately quickly make this book look dated. This situation is caused by the author's using a period calendar as a backdrop to their story and organizing the book around the twelve months of the year and the seasonal activities of the Anglo-Saxons under study.

A quick read and overall enjoyable

Even if this book was simply an attempt to cash in on the turn of the millenium a couple of years ago, it is nevertheless a fascinating and well written piece of popular history. Indeed, contrary to what some reviewers say, I think this book would be welcomed by historians. It neither glamorizes nor sensationalizes the privations and accomplishments of the time, but rather sets about putting medieval life (especially in England) into a larger communal context. There is no overemphasis on kingship and battles, but rather an attempt to portray the gritty and sometimes harrowing details of daily life. This is a "what it was like" approach to history that remains conservative in its goals and straightforward about its sources. In following the book of days around the calendar year, we get insights into the daily life of peasants and aristrocracy alike -- with a special emphasis on how the moving calendar had an impact on the lives of the people living on the land. This is a special and modest insight, and I think an interesting one. The book is, for all that, quite short and very readable. Now that the millenium is passed, this book remains a worthy and valuable contribution for those who want a taste of the Earth over a thousand years ago.

I don't think this is going to on anybody's "Great Books" lists, but it is a very pleasant, light read. The details are a little light because of the scarcity of written records from that time, and the fact that subsequent generations have focused attention on the epochal year of the conquest, 1066, but the authors do a very good job of keeping the book interesting by concentrating on things at an everyday, human scale. This is a fine book for anyone interest in English history. If you like this book, I would also suggest "A World Lit Only by Fire" from a few years back.

This book does not pretend to be an in-depth history, but gives a nice picture of what it would be like to be alive in England 1000 years ago. Interesting vignettes, and the use of the work calendar ties it all neatly together. Very diverting.

As a radio talk show host, I receive hundreds of books every year. This book is a keeper! Compelling, human, informative. Downright riveting. Danziger and Lacey use one relic from the year 1020 as a springboard for a very enlightening look at life at the turning of the last millenium. Written by guys who "do" history my way. Bravo! Bravo! Bravo! One negative: I WANT MORE! Tom Bauerle, WGR, Buffalo, NY (and BA in history, SUNY Buffalo)

This is a fairly small book (just over 200 pages) which presents a "Readers Digest" verison of England at time of the 1st millennium. It is not intend to be particulary detailed, but a light, easy to read overview of how England's ( and by extension, our own) culture was shaped by the events and people of that time, and it does this admirably...By using illustrations which are copies of those in the "Julius Work Calendar". the authors take you through a "typical" year for the people of that time..No, it is not in-depth but it does furnish a wonderful starting point for those of you who, like me, are interested in the history of this interesting but often neglected period of history....

How often do we lump the year 1000 into "back then" without being able to distinguish it from 800 or 1300? This book makes you feel like you're there, learning about daily life, what motivated people, what the hardships were ... Did you know that people in 1000 were as tall as we are today? Remember, this was before the Black Plague. It is fascinating and well organized!