jjares reviewed Anglo-Saxons: A Captivating Guide to the People Who Inhabited Great Britain from the Early Middle Ages to the Norman Conquest of England on + 3299 more book reviews
I really like the tone of this book. The author(s) encourage the reader to be one of the investigators to help investigate the Anglo-Saxons. The surprising thing I found out in this book is that the Anglo-Saxons were actually three small Germanic tribes (Angles, Jutes, Saxons) who raided and then settled in the land that would eventually be called Great Brittain. They changed the land considerably by establishing kingdoms, converting to Christianity, create alliances with other kingdoms, crush the locals and eventually uniting the land and peoples.
Offering maps to go with the text really adds to the reader's understanding. Not being a geography scholar, I need visual aids to absorb the meaning of the growth and changes highlighted by the text. Very interesting.
The only part I had trouble with was the mind-numbing recitation of various kings of some kingdoms. Otherwise, I enjoyed learning that men were the cooks in their culture. I thought the author did a good job, considering most of the information is from archeology and written records completed years (or generations) after the events took place.
Offering maps to go with the text really adds to the reader's understanding. Not being a geography scholar, I need visual aids to absorb the meaning of the growth and changes highlighted by the text. Very interesting.
The only part I had trouble with was the mind-numbing recitation of various kings of some kingdoms. Otherwise, I enjoyed learning that men were the cooks in their culture. I thought the author did a good job, considering most of the information is from archeology and written records completed years (or generations) after the events took place.
