Castles

After the great work of " The AngloSaxons" I expected a similar treat with "Castles...". It was not to be. Instead of the brilliantly coordinated verse and high resolution photography of "AngloSaxons" the illustrations are divorced from the text and stuck at the back of the book, with no connection to them in the text. Why? And the text! The book would be better titled "The Kingish Follies of England in the 13th to 17th Centuries". It is far from a book about castles. It wanders across the page, out the front door and across the seas. It meanders ad nauseum through the tragedies of Stuart and Douglas and countless other English and Scottish nobles until you quite forget it is supposed to be about CASTLES. How I longed for views of the castle interiors, or reproductions of same. The author would be advised to remember that a picture is worth a thousand words and a high resolution photograph is worth a thousand pictures.

Interesting book by a wonderful author. This book is excellent for my sister who is a travel agent looking for really special places to visit. Rather than a touristy book, this book talks about the history of castles in England, Scotland and Wales that were built after William C. Earlier castles no longer exist except for a few ruined ruins and no descriptions. The first type was a hole surrounded by earth mound with had been a wooden structure sticking up from the center. In Italy, a father and son built castles in France and beyond castles in a very similar style. They are associated with the model castle and showed how there were local touches but a consistent style across Europe. Don't forget to visit castles and buy their guide books,

This is the first book of Marc Morris's I have read, and I look forward to more - I have his "King John" on the way right now - his writing is interesting, engaging, and even a bit cheeky - this is a good introduction to the evolution of castles in Britain, in the context of important events/transitions in British history from the Norman conquest, to struggles for supremacy over belligerent kingdoms, to the English Civil War, and the important Continental influences on castle structure. Most of my reading to date has been on Plantagenet era - so his explanations of the Norman Conquest in the beginning and the Civil War at the end, made a very good primer for me. Well-illustrated and relevant illustrations as well. The first-hand accounts from chroniclers, official documents, and other sources were very interesting. Just a few things kept me from giving it higher marks: a) I think a map would have been helpful, b) I appreciated the context, but several times in the book the author strayed from focus on the buildings to straight biography, and took awhile getting back, and c) the Suggested Reading at the back is good, but I'm not sure general readers will have easy access to many of the academic references and I don't feel he sufficiently documented many of the first-hand accounts in the book.

Mark Morris is an outstanding historian of the Middle Ages. The book on castles is well-written, detailed and a great read. Recommend it highly

Factual details about some events that have been immortalized in fiction and film are even more interesting. Good writing. Can't wait to finish it.

Easy read. Lots of fun details without feeling heavy. Really shows how castles were used to threaten and dominate. It will end any Disneyland or Camelot dreams however.

The book tells the history of the development of castles.Examples of each stage of development are discussed.

Would like to have had more pictures of the castles..inside and out

This may be a good book, BUT it is the same book as "Castle - A History of the Buildings that Shaped Medieval Britain", a book which we already had got. For Amazon to say they are frequently bought together is very misleading, for the author to bring out the same book under 2 different title is.. well not honourable. So be careful, there is another review about this which I missed when ordering the book, the lesson to learn, always read the reviews before buying. We sent it back and of course that was no problems with that.

This is a very well-written and informative book, as you'd expect from the man who wrote the brilliant 'Norman Conquest.' Ok, there could have been a few more pictures, given the price of the hardback, and there is no mention whatsoever of Warwick Castle, which I found a bit strange, but it's still a great read.

When purchasing this book i thought it was anew book and did not realise its actually a re-issue of Castle: A History of the buildings that shaped medieval Britain, see link  Castle: A History of the Buildings that Shaped Medieval Britain , this is somewhat misleading as this book has a different name and cover and its not stated that this is a re-issue, comparing the two books the text and content appear to be identical.I am returning this as the content is identical to Castle: A History of the buildings that shaped medieval Britain which i already own, however having read the older issue of the book last year i can say this is an excellent book on castles and the way they were used and changed through time. Castle: A History of the Buildings that Shaped Medieval Britain

Fine thanks