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Wenin
Senior Scribe
585 Posts |
 Posted - 22 Jul 2006 : 23:39:06
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The Structures of Everyday Life: Civilization and Capitalism, 15th-18th Century Volume 1
by Fernand Braudel
I know the book isn't about the Forgotten Realms, and you shouldn't draw "direct" parallels between the Real World and DnD, but I figured this would give a glimpse of how it "could" be.
Has anyone read this book? Is it a hard read?
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Stem the Tide Takes place in Mistledale.
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31799 Posts |
Posted - 23 Jul 2006 : 01:38:13
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I have.
In terms of a "hard read", it really depends upon whether you're already familiar with Braudel's *sometimes* confusing writing style. For example, his La Méditerranée et le Monde Méditerranéen a l'époque de Philippe II is considered a classic great work by many, but I found some sections seem to contradict each other based on the archaeological details about ancient southern Mediterranean cultures prevalant at the time. It took a bit of weaving and re-reading to connect some of the bits he was writing about. Granted, ancient world archaeology is a *hobby* of mine, so any contradicting details immediately became apparent for me, which hampered my read of the book itself.
Civilisation matérielle, économie et capitalisme, XVe-XVIIIe siècle is a useful tome for referencing details that might be considered easy to drop into the more "advanced" Realms cities, like Waterdeep and Suzail for example -- but the first Volume I found to be more useful than the other two. There's a good section on economies of the period though, and I found that somewhat useful for plotting campaign ideas for a potential Sembia campaign. Again however, this work is also confusing. References about the economic structures and political structures for some of the various regions detail appear to have little commonality between the volumes. It seems to mark the fact that Braudel found new evidence to support his writing as his work continued, and then forget to reference that these new facts overwrote what he'd previously supported.
Overall, it's a great historical work. And it's good for basic Realms references you can use in your campaign. My advice, find the parts you're interested in and read those first. Leave reading the entire three volumes until you want to actually read the book.
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The Structures of Everyday Life, Fernand Braudel
