Imagine you could travel back to the 14th century. What would you see? What would you smell? More to the point where are you going to stay? And what are you going to eat? Ian Mortimer shows us that the past is not just something to be studied; it is also something to be lived. He sets out to explain what life was like in the most immediate way through taking you to the Middle Ages. The result is the most astonishing social history book you are ever likely to read: evolutionary in its concept informative and entertaining in its detail and startling for its portrayal of humanity in an age of violence exuberance and fear.