A history book that reads like a novel

A history book that reads like a novel

Montaillou Occitan village of 1294-1324 (Paperback)

Customer Review

This book is not a historical novel but its opposite: a history book told in a way that can be read 'almost' like a novel. Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, great historian and former professor of the College de France, used the register of Jacques Fournier Inquisition who interviewed almost all the inhabitants of this small village of the Ariege the 14th century to a level of detail ever achieved by other inquisitors to reconstruct in detail the daily life of its inhabitants. And it's fantastic. Throughout the pages, you will dive into a world so close to us and yet so far away, you'll meet ordinary people who really existed and some of which could very well be among your ancestors' history as science -fiction has this wonderful she can immerse ourselves in societies where norms and customs are so different from ours, while appearing the concept of normality to those who live, it allows us to step back our own society, our own morals and our own standards.

And that made the history book like no other, with a focus on micro-historical analysis makes these characters so distant and so old so close to us, for restoring their human status. Discover moods, beliefs, treachery, love stories of his villagers, who are all really happened. Discover at the time the parasites are everywhere, everyone was deloused every day by his neighbor or his neighbor and that this was a great moment of social life and exchanges, which the author laments the disappearance. Discover the power that had the priest on his village, the scarcity of books, practiced trades, contact with the Saracens of Spain near the thousand and one ways that we had to have a happy life in Old Regime, all on the back of the last thrust of the Rome Catholic Church against the Cathar heretics. A masterpiece, that will make you human and fascinating history.

Note that the time described by the book is very similar to that of the novel The Name of the Rose: the inquisitor Jacques Fournier became pope just after John XXII, who is the Pope described in the novel (but the places differ).

Strengths:

* A history book that reads like a novel
* Precise description of the daily lives of tens of modest people who actually existed
* Exciting anthropological reconstruction of the daily life of the village of Montaillou (which still exists)
* You will reconcile with history!

Weak points:

* If you are truly refractory to history, it is possible that you are not hanging onto

Fast delivery 2 Rank: 4/5
March 1
Scrap metal Rank: 1/5
April 18
poor manufacturing Rank: 1/5
January 13
Silence is golden! 7 Rank: 5/5
February 3
Nice sweater 6 Rank: 5/5
November 21

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