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Stephen Cooper (3)

Autore di Agincourt: Myth and Reality 1415-2015

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4 opere 37 membri 1 recensione

Sull'Autore

Stephen Cooper is the editor of John Fante's "The Big Hunger: Stories 1932-1959". He is Professor of English & Film at California State University at Long Beach. He lives in Los Angeles, with his wife & their two children. (Bowker Author Biography)

Opere di Stephen Cooper

Etichette

Informazioni generali

Sesso
male
Nazionalità
UK

Utenti

Recensioni

I wanted to give this book 5 stars very badly but I'm kind of stingy with those. That said, this is a very good book. It is basically broken down in two parts. The first being Hawkwood's career in Italy beginning with his descent from France to join up with the Great Company. It covers the battles and campaigning, along with a bit of his personal life, up until his death in 1394.
The second half of the book deals basically with the mercenary trade in Italy in general and a fundamental study as to how war and chivalry combine (and clash) throughout Europe. This book relies heavily upon contemporary sources which I find very helpful and usually entertaining. There are chapters that deal with how mercenaries were percieved then and now. There is even a chapter that answers the question "Where Italians just too cowardly to fight their own wars?", which I thought amusing.
I give the author 5 stars for butting heads with Terry Jones and William Urban on the subject of mercenaries and Medieval warfare in general.
The only thing, in my opinion, lacking in this book was John Hawkwood's youth and first experiences in soldiering. These are covered well in William Caferro's [John Hawkwood: An English Mercenary in 14th Centrury Italy] but is always nice to have varied and sometimes differing sources. I highly recommend this book.
… (altro)
 
Segnalato
Poleaxe | Jan 22, 2009 |

Statistiche

Opere
4
Utenti
37
Popolarità
#390,572
Voto
½ 3.5
Recensioni
1
ISBN
45
Lingue
3