A welcome refreshment of a seminal era in the forging of the English identity.
A comprehensive overview of the Anglo-Saxon era seeking “to see these people as they were…and try to shed the misconceptions about them that have developed in later centuries.”
Morris, author of The Norman Conquest, King John, William I, and other books of British history, returns with another compelling, sweeping story of old England, starting with the crumbling of the Roman administrative and military edifice in the mid-fifth century. The incursions by the Saxons, Picts, Scots, Jutes, and Angles, among others, wore down the Romanized Britons, and conversion to Christianity followed. Morris meticulously delineates the rise of the Northumbrian kingdom in the north and Mercia in the south, where the great King Offa reigned, and then moves on to the Vikings. Beginning with the raid of Lindisfarne in 793, the Vikings ushered in a long era of marauding armies from the north, taking advantage of the enormous economic growth of the systems of trade further south. “The Scandinavians knew all about the rich coastal communities of the kingdoms to the south,” writes Morris, “and they also knew that they were undefended.” It wasn’t until the late ninth century, with the rise of Alfred the Great of Wessex, that the Norsemen were quelled, leading to the conversion of their leader, Guthrum, and consolidation of Anglo-Saxon fortification across the country’s boroughs and restoration of London in 886. “Alfred, in his determined efforts to undo the cultural destruction that decades of [V]iking attacks had caused,” writes Morris, “was also responsible for a remarkable renaissance in learning, and the elevation of English to a language of literature.” In this rich history, which draws on up-to-date archaeological data, the author also examines significant cultural and intellectual currents and the resurrection of monasticism in the 10th century. He concludes with the doomed King Harold II, whose death at the Battle of Hastings ended Anglo-Saxon rule in England.
A welcome refreshment of a seminal era in the forging of the English identity.Pub Date: May 25, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-64313-312-6
Page Count: 452
Publisher: Pegasus
Review Posted Online: Feb. 19, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
As Wonder Woman might say, Suffering Sappho! This book is fascinating, fun, and consistently enlightening.
From Penelope and Pandora to Katniss Everdeen and Lisbeth Salander, the "hero's journey" gets a much-needed makeover.
In her latest, Tatar—the Harvard professor of folklore and mythology and Germanic languages and literature who has annotated collections of classic fairy tales, Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen, among others—begins by pointing out that all of the faces of heroism discussed in Joseph Campbell's influential book, The Hero With a Thousand Faces (1949), are male. To correct this requires a revision of the concept of heroism itself, rooted in numerous foundational texts. Starting with Greek mythology and Scheherezade and moving through the centuries all the way to the Game of Thrones series and The Queen's Gambit, Tatar incisively explores women's reinvention of heroism to embrace empathy, compassion, and care, often to pursue social justice. Among the many high points in this engaging study: an analysis of Little Women and Anne of Green Gables as autofiction, Jurassic Park as a reimagining of “Hansel and Gretel,” Harriet the Spy as an antiheroine, and a deep dive into the backstory of Wonder Woman. Receiving their own chapters are female sleuths such as Nancy Drew, Miss Marple, and the less well known characters of Kate Fansler, an academic, and Blanche White, who is Black. The book really takes off when it gets to contemporary culture, particularly in a section that identifies a female version of the "trickster" archetype in Everdeen and Salander. Of this lineage, among the shared interesting traits not traditionally associated with women characters is a prodigious appetite. "Like Gretel, Pippi Longstocking, and Lisbeth Salander before her,” writes Tatar, “Katniss gorges on rich food yet her hunger never ceases." The text is illustrated with many reproductions of paintings and other artwork—including a postcardworthy panel from the original Wonder Woman—that add much to the text.
As Wonder Woman might say, Suffering Sappho! This book is fascinating, fun, and consistently enlightening.Pub Date: Sept. 14, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-63149-881-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Liveright/Norton
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extraordinary, moving account of survival and endurance.
A novelistic biography focuses on the remarkable story of a tail gunner whose plane was shot down during World War II.
Gene Moran grew up in Soldiers Grove, a small farm town in Wisconsin with a population of 624. After the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, he was eager to join the war, and just after he turned 18 years old, he managed to convince his begrudging parents to grant him permission. He enlisted in the Air Corps and became trained to become a tail gunner on a B-17 Flying Fortress, joining the crew of the Rikki Tikki Tavi. On a dangerous bombing mission conducted above Bremen, Germany, Moran’s plane came under heavy fire—the tail split from the rest of the plane, and he plummeted to the Earth four miles without a parachute. Miraculously, Moran survived, though badly injured—both of his arms were shattered by bullets; some of his ribs were broken; and his skull was fractured. This marked only the beginning of what Moran was to endure, a harrowing experience deftly described by Armbruster. After multiple surgeries, Moran spent 17 months in a German prisoner-of-war camp and suffered “starvation, deprivation, sickness, despair.” The author aims for what he calls “narrative nonfiction”—a true, novelistic account free of embellishment and as accurate as Moran’s memory and willingness to share allowed. At one point, Moran declared: “There are some things that are NEVER going to go into any book!” Armbruster includes an account of Moran’s liberation from captivity and his return home, a touching story of personal triumph that defies belief. In addition, the author depicts his chance meeting with Moran and the context of the period, including the poignantly related tale of Armbruster’s wife’s struggle with brain cancer, one to which she ultimately succumbed. Moran’s survival is a cinematically grand story, bigger than life but not fantastical, dramatically gripping as well as emotionally stirring.
An extraordinary, moving account of survival and endurance.Pub Date: April 30, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-64538-315-4
Page Count: 420
Publisher: Ten16 Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 15, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
