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Ruth Goodman, "How To Be a Tudor: A Dawn-to-Dusk Guide to Tudor Life"

Posted By: TimMa
Ruth Goodman, "How To Be a Tudor: A Dawn-to-Dusk Guide to Tudor Life"

Ruth Goodman, "How To Be a Tudor: A Dawn-to-Dusk Guide to Tudor Life"
Publisher: Liveright | 2016 | ISBN: 1631491393 | English | EPUB | 336 pages | 1.8 Mb

The real Wolf Hall - a time traveller's guide to daily life in Tudor England The Tudor era encompasses some of the greatest changes in our history. But while we know about the historical dramas of the times - most notably in the court of Henry VIII - what was life really like for a commoner like you or me? To answer this question, the renowned "method historian" and historical advisor to the BBC Ruth Goodman has slept, washed and cooked as the Tudors did - so you don't have to! She is your expert guide to this fascinating era, drawing on years of practical historical study to show how our ancestors coped with everyday life, from how they slept to how they courted. Using a vast range of sources, she takes you back to the time when soot was used as toothpaste and the "upper crust" of bread was served to the wealthier members of the house. Exploring how the Tudors learnt, danced and even sat and stood according to the latest fashion, she reveals what it all felt, smelt and tasted like, from morning until night. 'Ruth is the queen of living history, long may she reign!' - Lucy Worsley
“Immersive, engrossing…a reminder that while we believe we see the past from a detached, enlightened perspective, our view is often blinkered, and so is our notion of what constitutes human needs and nature. It’s one thing to pay lip service to how much the Western family has changed over the past several centuries and another to witness someone recreating the way it once worked…The revelatory truth behind the sumptuous gowns and palaces of Wolf Hall isn’t how badly those kings and princesses smelled but just how hard everyone else was working in the rest of their world.” (Laura Miller - Salon)

“[Goodman's] enthusiasm is exhilarating and contagious; her writing is clear and clean, sharply observant of tactile details and what they reveal about 16th-century life…Goodman approaches a plainspoken lyricism, a prosaic celebration of her ancestors and the world they made.” (Kate Tuttle - Boston Globe)

“Engagingly written and awash in the practicalities of life in the age, [How to Be a Tudor] presents a vivid, fascinating era of British history and reminds us that we're never as far from the past as we like to think.” (Genevieve Valentine - NPR.org)

“Goodman’s latest foray into immersive history is a revelation…This fascinating book shows us commoners at their patriotic Sunday afternoon archery practice and Henry VIII playing tennis in a crimson satin doublet, with evening prayers for all. It’s the next best thing to being there.” (Sarah Ferguson - New York Times Book Review)

“An intimate look inside the 16th-century household. In this natural follow-up to How to Be a Victorian (2014), historian Goodman mines advice manuals, poems, letters, Shakespeare's plays, and even cookbooks to etch in captivating detail a portrait of life in Tudor and Elizabethan England…. Fresh and illuminating history.” (Kirkus Reviews)

“Ruth is the queen of living history, long may she reign!” (Lucy Worsley, author of The Art of the English Murder)

“A deeply researched and endlessly fascinating account of what it was like to live as a Tudor. The narrative is rich in period detail and based upon a thorough review of the contemporary sources, but what makes it unique is the fact that Goodman has put it all into practice―sleeping, eating, washing and dressing like a Tudor. As a result, How To Be a Tudor is one of very few books which can justifiably claim to bring every aspect of this enduringly popular period dazzlingly to life.” (Tracy Borman, author of Thomas Cromwell)


Ruth Goodman is the author of How to Be a Victorian. An historian of British social and domestic life, she has presented a number of BBC television series, including Tudor Monastery Farm. She lives in England.


Ruth Goodman, "How To Be a Tudor: A Dawn-to-Dusk Guide to Tudor Life"