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How to Be a Tudor
- A Dawn-to-Dusk Guide to Everyday Life
- Narrated by: Patience Tomlinson
- Length: 11 hrs and 13 mins
- Categories: History, Europe
Non-member price: $31.44
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Publisher's Summary
The Tudor era encompasses some of the greatest changes in our history. But while we know about the historical dramas of the times, what was life really like for a commoner?
To answer this question, the renowned 'method historian' Ruth Goodman has slept, washed and cooked as the Tudors did. 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.
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.
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What listeners say about How to Be a Tudor
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Readalot
- 18-02-2017
Fascinating Information
Where does How to Be a Tudor rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
It's one of the best of the non-fiction ones
What did you like best about this story?
I loved the information about what the author experienced while living as a Tudor.
Have you listened to any of Patience Tomlinson’s other performances? How does this one compare?
This is my first.
If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?
How to be a Tudor!
Any additional comments?
I wished there was more of the experience and possibly less fascination with breeds of wheat...
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- Kindle Customer
- 18-03-2017
Another Great Work by Ruth Goodman
What made the experience of listening to How to Be a Tudor the most enjoyable?
Patience Tomlinson does an excellent job narrating. This was best for times when I couldn't keep full attention on an audio book. If I missed a few words here and there I could still enjoy the experience.
What did you like best about this story?
This book is a collection of historical facts and Ms. Goodman's personal experiences trying to recreate Tudor life. So it's a fun mix of primary sources, historians data analysis, and her own anecdotal experiences on Tudor day to day life.
Any additional comments?
I love Ruth Goodman's work such as the BBC Historical farm series. So if you are already a fan then I think you would enjoy this audiobook.
1 person found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 30-06-2017
FULL OF INTERESING INFORMATION
I liked the book very much. I bought it not only because of an interesting theme but also because of te author, whom I consider to be a superb practical historian, spreading popularity of her subject among wide public. This book is full of information presented in a very readable/listenable form. It peeps into past people's lifes, both public and private, with some detailed descriptions of activities (cheese or clothes or ale making, for example) that are thus possible to be tried on your own, should you only wish to. I have to admit that some of these descriptions seemed too long and dragging for me, however it might be given by my particular taste. The narrator did a good job and I enjoyed listening to her a lot. I recommend this book for anybody interested in practical history.
5 people found this helpful
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- John
- 24-04-2017
Very good overall
What did you like most about How to Be a Tudor?
Interesting and thoroughly researched
If you’ve listened to books by Ruth Goodman before, how does this one compare?
n/a
Have you listened to any of Patience Tomlinson’s other performances? How does this one compare?
n/a
Any additional comments?
I found the book interesting but would have preferred more emphasis on general life and less on food. Although I suppose I should have expected this given the authors' background.
3 people found this helpful
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- miss Amanda.Christie
- 16-11-2017
BRILLIANT!
Fascinating insight into how we lived in Tudor times- And what we got up to !!!
1 person found this helpful
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- Far I
- 05-05-2017
Tudor Social History Brought To Life!
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Anybody who is keen on history. Especially pupils who study the Tudor period in KS3. If the royal history of the period is the bones, births, deaths, marriages etc. Then this book, that shows life in the tudor period from waking in the morning, to going to bed at night, throughout the year is the meat! A succulent joint at that...
It tells in an interesting and informative way how all sections of Tudor society were born, lived and died. What they ate and drank. How they passed their days.
A great narration by Patience Tomlinson too.
What did you like best about this story?
The author Ruth Goodman is an historian who literally lives history. She's brewed ale, made the bread and gone months without washing to experience how medieval people lived. Because of this personal research she makes this book come alive.
Any additional comments?
A really great book. If we could clone the author and put her in every secondary school class History in Britain we would have a nation of historians. Her enthusiasm for the subject and how she puts her point across is amazing.
1 person found this helpful
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- Kay Howlett
- 25-04-2017
Brilliant!
I loved this book. It's full of so much information. I really feel as though I have a much better understanding of the day to day living of common folk in Tudor times.
Well done Ruth!
2 people found this helpful
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- Miss Helen R White
- 12-05-2020
Really interesting and wonderfully detailed
I really enjoy Ruth's work and how she brings to life the experiences of the average person. The book is possibly a little heavily biased towards clothes, but as this was such an important part of society it needs to be covered throughly. The book contains and covers all aspects of Tudor life, with plenty of contemporary references, which really help bring it all to life. I also really liked that Ruth references her own insight gained from programs such as 'Tudor Farm'.
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- Squaddy79
- 27-04-2020
In-depth good read
Excellent insight to what life was for the ordinary people during this historic period. Very well written and read clearly. A do not miss to while away the hours. 10/10 from me.
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- Ian Smith
- 20-02-2020
Excellent and engaging
I really enjoyed this book, as in many ways it fleshed out the other books I'd read about late medieval England. The fact that Ruth has done her best to "live the life" really helped her describe, if not the reality, something very close to it. The narrator did a good job, but (editing oversight?) there were sometimes surprisingly long gaps between what I assume were paragraphs or sections.
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- Marilyn
- 01-02-2020
Let down by the narrator
The story is interesting and lively and what you would expect from Ruth, HOWEVER, the narrator stutters on a couple of occasions , the voice isn’t consistent and she starts words very sharp and loud and sometimes on words throughout a sentence and at the end of words
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- Eleni
- 10-05-2019
Very informative
Full of details about Tudor lives this is an excellent book. Still, as a listen I found it to be a bit tiring. The amount of detail the author goes into, whilst it would gave worked for me in a hard copy it produced the opposite result as an audio. I would definitely recommend it though for someone to read!
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