Reviews for Economic History of Britain, the New Penguin - Christopher Dyer - Paperback

The average rating for Economic History of Britain, the New Penguin - Christopher Dyer - Paperback based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2010-09-20 00:00:00 Will Finne I couldn't do it. I just couldn't finish it. This could be so interesting--an in-depth look at the economics and social impacts of economics from 850-1550 or some such. But no. Thank you, Dyer, for botching the job. I couldn't figure out who his audience was--one minute he would be describing the minutiae of wool gathering and sales, the next painstakingly explaining what the Norman Conquest of 1066 was. Was this supposed to be a popular book? A book for historians that are looking into economics? For economists looking into history? No idea. And while his lack of footnotes or endnotes or anything other than a "suggested further reading" section makes this seem like a popularly-aimed book, it makes me nervous about his assumptions. How are you basing your theories, Dyer? Especially your assertion that the Conquest didn't really affect the English economy? Also, he won't stick to an idea. I was positively burdened with his negative language regarding lords and the aristocratic class (did some lord step on his great great grandfather or something?) and then he briefly mentions that the lords were in a bind themselves. Apparently everyone had it rough, but he does not balance his explanations of how and it's just a confusing mess. Definitely not recommended for those looking into an economic breakdown of the middle ages.

Review # 2 was written on 2018-05-24 00:00:00 Erick Maillard I'm quite interested in social and economic history, particularly with regards to early Medieval times, and this book is a pretty solid entry into that corpus. It's an overview of the the whole period, dividing itself between the economic life of the nobility, the gentry, rural peasants and townsfolk. Anyone looking for a big revelation, a moment of "this is the key to unlocking what happened," will probably be disappointed, because there's not a lot of that here. Even the Black Death, a major event in European social history, is shown to have not followed precisely what theory might have predicted. Which isn't a flaw; data should be looked at in its entirety. But it does make this book less than flashy.