1215 or Until Death Do Us Part

1215: The Year of Magna Carta

Author: Danny Danziger

Surveying a broad landscape through a narrow lens, 1215 sweeps readers back eight centuries in an absorbing portrait of life during a time of global upheaval, the ripples of which can still be felt today. At the center of this fascinating period is the document that has become the root of modern freedom: the Magna Carta. It was a time of political revolution and domestic change that saw the Crusades, Richard the Lionheart, King John, and—in legend—Robin Hood all make their marks on history.

The events leading up to King John's setting his seal to the famous document at Runnymede in June 1215 form this rich and riveting narrative that vividly describes everyday life from castle to countryside, from school to church, and from hunting in the forest to trial by ordeal. For instance, women wore no underwear (though men did), the average temperatures were actually higher than they are now, and the austere kitchen at Westminster Abbey allowed each monk two pounds of meat and a gallon of ale per day. Broad in scope and rich in detail, 1215 ingeniously illuminates what may have been the most important year of our history.

Publishers Weekly

Magna Carta is considered a foundation of modern freedoms, yet it is deeply rooted in the unique facts and political situation of 13th-century England. This excellent study is not only about the document itself but also about the context in which it can be fully understood. Danziger (The Year 1000) and Gillingham, professor emeritus of history at the London School of Economics, head each chapter with a passage from the Great Charter and elucidate the daily experience and issues that underlie it. While the first chapters elaborate on how both average folk and elites lived, worked, hunted, married, studied, played and went to church, later chapters get deeper into the meaning of the document itself. Marvelous details about daily life abound, while myths and misperceptions are firmly swept away. The infamous King John, who signed the Great Charter, moves slowly to center stage against the background stories of his parents, the legendary Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine; his brother Richard Lionheart; and other great figures of the day, both historical and mythical, including Robin Hood and Thomas Becket. When the reader reaches the climactic chapter, in which the barons force the Charter on John, the document has jumped off the pedestal on which tradition has placed it and become a living thing. The event itself and the details of the document show how age-old practices and last-minute concessions shaped the text (which is included in its entirety). Danziger and Gillingham make it clear that the Magna Carta was not an abstract thesis, but a brilliant response to a particular time and circumstance. Map. (June 15) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

"No vill or man shall be forced to build bridges at river banks, except those who ought to do so by custom and law."The years preceding 1215 in England were bad ones, apparently, for the folks who didn't wish to be press-ganged into building bridges; they weren't much better for those who liked a little variety in their diet, for in those days "the poor virtually fasted every day," even if their simple repasts spared them from the tooth decay that the rich, with their artificial sweeteners, suffered. British historian/writers Danziger (co-author, The Year 1000, 1999, etc.) and Gillingham (History/London School of Economics) take readers on an informal, sometimes even breezy tour of the times, explaining oddments and customs: Chairs being rare, for instance, visitors to a house were usually seated on daybeds; only an important guest was given the seat of honor, whence the modern term "chairman" or "chair." Danziger and Gillingham linger appreciatively on some of the better aspects of the day, when cathedrals and seats of learning were established and England's holdings were beginning to expand across the waters to France and Ireland. But they don't shy from the less idyllic features of life in Merrie Olde, when slavery may have been abolished but serfdom endured ("Economic and social circumstance inevitably meant that some people were less free than others"). Their narrative, which moves along nicely, closes with the rebellion of the English knights against King John, who, most commentators agree, needed to be rebelled against; the result was the Magna Carta, a translation of the complete text of which closes this study (and makes it of extra use for readers seeking good value for theirshilling). Danziger and Gillingham suggest that the most important clauses of the Magna Carta concern the requirements for fair trials and judgment by peers-but protection against having to build bridges unwillingly must have been nice, too. A reader-friendly glance at a turning point in history.

Table of Contents:

	Introduction	ix
	Map of Britain and France	xxii
1	The Englishman's Castle	1
2	The Countryside	19
3	Town	37
4	School	57
5	Family Strife	77
6	Tournaments and Battles	95
7	Hunting in the Forest	111
8	The Church	125
9	King John	141
10	The King's Men	159
11	Trial by Ordeal	175
12	A Christian Country	191
13	The English and the Celts	207
14	The Wider World	223
15	The Great Charter	245
16	The Myth	267
	The Text of Magna Carta	275
	Bibliography	291
	Acknowledgments	297
	Index	299

Go to: Worlds Greatest Wines or Quick and Easy Asian Tapas and Noodles

Until Death Do Us Part: My Struggle to Reclaim Colombia

Author: Ingrid Betancourt

This memoir reads like a fast-paced political thriller. Until Death Do Us Part recounts Ingrid Betancourt's early years in Paris, where she grew up among diplomats, literati, and artists, including Gabriel García Máraquez. From this charmed life, Ingrid returned to the embattled political scene of her native Colombia, where as a senator and a national heroine, she confronted—and became the target of—the establishment and the drug cartels behind it.

This is also a deeply personal story of a woman whose love for her country gave her the courage to stand up to a power that has defeated or seduced all others who opposed it. Until Death Do Us Part gives a chilling account of the dangerous, byzantine machine that runs Colombia, and tells a riveting, inspiring story of privilege, sacrifice, and true patriotism.

James Sullivan <BR> <BR> - Book Magazine

Colombian presidential candidate Betancourt promises to rid her native country of its rampant drug-funded corruption. In Colombia, one of the most dangerous political environments in the world, such a pledge can get you killed. But Betancourt has been living with that horrible threat for some time now. A pampered young woman who spent years in Paris with her diplomat parents, she has devoted her adulthood—and sacrificed a safe, stable life with her two children—to face down Colombia's deeply ingrained criminal culture. She first ran for legislative office in Bogotáas an unknown but won the seat with an ingenious campaign gimmick—she handed out condoms to symbolize her battle against the "disease" of corruption. In office, she undertook a highly publicized hunger strike to protest the illicit connections of the recent president, Ernesto Samper. Betancourt's memoir could make for a crackling novel of political intrigue. "My relationship with death is like that of a tightrope walker," she concludes. "We're both doing something dangerous, and we've calculated the risks, but our love of perfection invariably overcomes our fear."

Publishers Weekly

In a memoir that sometimes conveys the excitement of a Clancy thriller, Betancourt recounts her remarkable life, from the Paris of her childhood (her father was Colombia's minister of education and ambassador to UNESCO) to present-day Colombia, where she has served as a senator in Bogot and where she plans to launch her 2002 presidential campaign. That is, if she isn't assassinated first. Betancourt announces early on that she is no ordinary politician and that her reminiscences will comprise no ordinary political memoir. But what constitutes exceptional in Colombia, a country awash in political corruption and controlled by a government that is under the thumb of organized crime and vulnerable to the financial lure of illegal drug trafficking? Well, for starters, Betancourt spent her first campaign, for a seat in the House of Representatives, standing along the city's busiest streets, handing out condoms ("[O]ur poster: my photo alongside a picture of a condom, with this slogan: `The best to protect us against corruption.' " She scandalized her parents, her friends, her country, but won her seat in the House. So began Betancourt's campaign against electoral fraud and narcopoliticians, which, despite the death threats and the pressure exerted on her family, continues to this day and which won't end, as her title implies, until she wins or is killed for her efforts. Betancourt's memoir is intelligently written, if occasionally sentimental, and she passionately and clearly describes the consequences of corruption and the dangers of combating it. (Jan.) Forecast: This was a bestseller in France and Colombia. It may not reach that status here, but Betancourt's attractive face on the cover will lead people to pick it up, and her fast-paced story will keep them reading. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

A manifesto from the woman running for Colombia's presidency. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

A courageous Colombian senator, member of a politically active family, charts her course through the dangerous political waters of her troubled country.