CASTLES

How castles and other fortified buildings have helped shape history for thousands of years.

Jones draws from his work as an author (Powers and Thrones, 2021, etc.) and podcaster (This is History: A Dynasty to Die For) for this entertaining, fact-filled history of fortifications. As he writes, the book “takes a broad view on what a castle was—and is. At its core is a series of chapters about the castles of Western Europe during the Middle Ages. But it also examines the castle’s origins in the fortified cities that emerged during the Bronze Age in the eastern Mediterranean.” He describes the work as “a personal tour of castles I have encountered.” It’s an expansive tour, beginning with King Priam’s impenetrable community of Troy—until it was penetrated by Greeks who entered the citadel hidden in a certain horse. The walls of Jericho (“for thousands of years…the tallest structure on Earth”), the Iron Age hillforts of Britannia, the Viking Ring fortresses of Denmark, the Tower of London, the Great Wall of the Ming dynasty—these and more are vividly described in a breezy, absorbing writing style that’s buttressed by meticulous research. Jones also includes some “fantasy castles”—buildings that helped inspire works of fiction, including The Castle of Otranto, considered the first gothic novel. A chapter on American castles details Biltmore House, a 250-room mansion built by a scion of the Vanderbilt family, and publisher William Randolph Hearst’s San Simeon castle. Writing about the “nuclear age,” the author cites Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg’s underground shelter in Hawaii as an example of “doom-prepping.” For those less monetarily endowed, there are bunkers for sale—at $55,000 a pop—on the former Black Hills Army Base in South Dakota. “You can create a very chic glamping bunker on a barebones budget,” reads the spot’s marketing literature. “Think of it like you’re preparing for a long camping trip, albeit under a concrete and steel structure that will protect you from everything outside.”

A fascinating look at the human impulse to protect and defend homes, communities, and nations.