Status
Checked out
Genres
Publication
Harper (2015), Edition: 1St Edition, Hardcover, 352 pages
Description
"The story of one of the most remarkable women of the medieval world, as you have never read it before. In Joan of Arch : a history, Helen Castor tells this gripping story afresh: forwards, not backwards. Instead of an icon, she gives us a living, breathing woman confronting the challenges of faith and doubt, a roaring girl who, in fighting the English, was also taking sides in a bloody civil war. We meet this extraordinary girl amid the tumultuous events of her extraordinary world where no one--not Joan herself, nor the people around her, princes, bishops, soldiers or peasants--knew what would happen next"--Provided by publisher.
User reviews
LibraryThing member charlie68
A good book for those people whose knowledge of Joan of Arc, or as she was known then Joan the Maid, is sketchy this book will fill in the blanks. As with a lot of stories of saintly figures it is hard to tell who she really was. The one thing is she was the catalyst who turned the tide of English
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dominance in France. Everything else is mysterious. Show Less
LibraryThing member lisapeet
This is exactly what the title advertises, much more a history than a biography. Castor does such a great job of grounding the Joan of Arc story in the politics and dynamics of the time, it really changes what's become a kind of familiar, overly-hyped fairy tale. But because it's set late in the
It's worth while going back and forth to check out the family trees at the front of the book until you get a handle on who's who—these are some seriously intermingled bloodlines—and where everyone's from. If you have the patience for that, though, it's totally rewarding. What a great story... and even though Joan herself is onstage for only a short time, she's a really affecting character. I liked this one a lot, and got a strong sense for a piece of history.
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Hundred Years' War, there are extremely dense machinations, alliances, and family lines in play, so this is not a quick, escapist kind of read.It's worth while going back and forth to check out the family trees at the front of the book until you get a handle on who's who—these are some seriously intermingled bloodlines—and where everyone's from. If you have the patience for that, though, it's totally rewarding. What a great story... and even though Joan herself is onstage for only a short time, she's a really affecting character. I liked this one a lot, and got a strong sense for a piece of history.
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Awards
PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography (Longlist — 2016)
NPR: Books We Love (2015)
Language
Original publication date
2014
Physical description
352 p.; 6 inches
ISBN
0062384392 / 9780062384393