Anatomy of a Castle
John Gibson
Metro Books
Nonfiction, History/Warfare
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Description
Castles have a romanticized place in the public mind. Associated with fairy tales of knights and princesses today, few stop to remember that castles were built mainly for military and political reasons, and those living in them were more concerned with survival or conquest than rescuing damsels or seeking lost relics. This book describes the history of the castle in various parts of the Old World.
Review
Yet another half-price wonder... I got it for the pictures, and I was hoping for more of an actual "anatomy" of castles here - a breakdown of how they were put together, maybe with floor plans or diagrams or something else useful when visualizing such structures (or writing about them.) I didn't get that, but I did get some nice pictures, and the narrative - though dry for my tastes - contains a fair amount of information. Not a bad reference, I suppose, but not as good as I was hoping when I bought it.