*****= An all-time favorite
**** = Outstanding
*** = Above
average
** = Enjoyable
*
= Good, with reservations
***Castles of England, Scotland & Wales
by Paul Johnson
Reviewed September 15, 2003.
Phoenix Illustrated, London, 1997. First published in 1989.
215 pages.
Available used from $27.25 on Amazon.com
I actually bought this book four years ago as a souvenir at Bodiam Castle
in England. However, I found it in an American edition on Amazon, so
I thought I could go ahead and review it. I finally got it read because
of our trip to Scotland this summer.
If you are a castle nut like me, this book is simply a must-have.
It doesn’t have a comprehensive list of castles in Britain like the book
Castles of Britain and Ireland
by Plantagenet Somerset Fry, but it does have the detailed history of castle-building
in Britain. Starting with the Normans, it explains the different periods
of castle-building, why castles were built, how they were used, and what
current technology went into them. The history is loaded with specific
examples, and there are pictures on almost every set of two pages.
The index in the back will help you to find the story of almost any castle
in England, Wales or Scotland. There’s also a Gazetteer of selected
castles that are open to the public that list their opening times and telephone
numbers.
This book isn’t quick reading, and sometimes the details of floor plans
were more than I was interested in, but overall I found the information
fascinating. This book would also be good for anyone especially interested
in the history of England. It explained that history in terms of what
castles were built and how the aristocracy lived.
Book Reviews by Sondra Eklund