|
|
Post by nellie on Dec 30, 2010 15:00:50 GMT -1
'the tribe of witches' 'a dreaming for the witches' ~both by Stephen J Yeates Has anybody read these? Are they worth buying? I've seen a few good reviews but I've bought duff books before after reading good reviews  |
|
|
|
Post by Heron on Mar 11, 2011 15:56:29 GMT -1
The current issue of the London Review of Books (Vol 33, No. 6 - probably available in a local public library) has a review by Tom Shippey of Volume II of the Penguin History of Britain - Britain after Rome: The Fall and Rise, 400 - 1070 by Robin Fleming: www.amazon.co.uk/Britain-after-Rome-Anglo-Saxon-History/dp/0713990643/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1299861521&sr=1-2He finds it to be a good academic approach but clearly and accessibly written and presented (i.e. not just aimed at other academics). He also says it is full of new information. The picture painted is one of Brythons (dismissed as Brittunculi 'little Brits' by the earlier Romans of Vindolanda) largely feeling dispossessed and confused about their identity and therefore being prepared to engage in cultural shifts over time to the dominant cultures of their local areas following the migrations in from northern Germany and Scandinavia. Or, as Shippey puts it, "the post-Roman language shift was as much cultural as it was ethnic", though he is also critical of the picture painted in the book of totally peaceful intermingling of populations. The strong point of the book, according to Shippey, is the wealth of new archaeological evidence supplied and its fresh look at the period rather than re-cycling on the usual (mostly later) sources such as Bede, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and Gildas. The link above is to the hardback, but I gather a paperback is on the way. Worth a look I would think. |
|
