Rarely does a travel guide stand the test of time quite like this colorful and hypothetically practical portrait of Elizabethan England. Historian Ian Mortimer, a former fellow of the Royal Historical Society, escorts the Anglophile on a tour of his native country five centuries ago, where 3s could buy you a personal tour of the Tower of London's dungeons. Disguised as a trip-planner, this lively historical account stays true to form offering readers travel advice such as fashion trends (ruffs and ruffles rule), diet tips (avoid tomatoes), and much-needed safety notes such as why bathing is unhealthy and how many arrows to keep on hand. On the topic of good manners, it is customary to remove your hat when in the presence of public urination and true gentlemen greet women with a full-on kiss on the lips, a custom that possibly explains why in 1563, over 17 thousand people succumbed to the plague. Motimer explores many facets of England's "Golden Age" with intricate detail yet a lightness in tone. He riffs off fellow scholars to fill the gaps in this upbeat and in depth account. Wildly entertaining, Mortimer fresh approach to history will draw in many types of readers. Agent: George Lucas, Inkwell Management. (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Having made a splash with The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England (2009), popular British historian Mortimer delivers an equally authoritative, amusing bottoms-up account of life during Queen Elizabeth's 1558-1603 reign. The average Elizabethan paid little attention to politics but a great deal to domestic technology. Thus, bricks and clear glass became cheaper. Cheap bricks meant cheap chimneys. Without a chimney, smoke can only escape through the roof, making upper stories impossible, so multistory buildings spread throughout Elizabethan towns. Formerly available only to the rich, glass windows began appearing widely. Elizabethan professions could be as professional as today's but not always: An Elizabethan lawyer would deliver useful legal counsel, but you would be unwise to follow the advice of an Elizabethan physician. Preparing a hot bath was a major undertaking. In any case, bathing was considered a health risk. This did not mean that Elizabethans ignored personal cleanliness, but a time traveler would have noticed the general body odor. However, even Elizabethans disliked the smell of excrement. Privies took care of this in the country; the rich built expensive cesspits and even primitive water closets, but the urban poor had few options, so cities stank. We understand the English of Shakespeare's time with a modest effort, although many words have changed meaning. Ecstasy meant insanity. Mean meant impoverished ("of mean parentage" didn't mean child abuse but poverty). "Puke" was a bluish-black color. Readers accustomed to Hollywood's portrayal of people in earlier times (just like us, except for the funny clothes) are in for a jolt as they encounter plenty of new, often unsettling, occasionally gruesome but always entertaining information.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Having previously taken readers on a tour through fourteenth-century England in The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England (2009), Mortimer now serves as our guide to the golden age of Elizabeth I. He starts off with the geography of country and town, then makes stops to examine the cultural and social landscape, providing details of religion, dress, food, medicine, transportation, law, entertainment, and more. Along the way, he pulls aside the curtain to peek at private life from the highest levels (Elizabeth) to the family of an unemployed hatter with one leg getting by on alms of three pence per week. Mortimer is the best sort of tour guide, chatty and convivial as well as extremely knowledgeable. He makes the Elizabethan era come alive, offering a perspective that will be appreciated by fans of the how-they-lived-then genre, as well as those who want to enhance their reading of history and historical fiction.--Quinn, Mary Ellen Copyright 2010 Booklist

This highly detailed and meticulously researched work is an exploration of daily life and major developments in Queen Elizabeth's England. As in his earlier The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England, here Mortimer leads the reader through the sights, sounds, landscapes, people, and customs of a time and place in history. The work compares the era to those before it and to modern times. Like a particularly intriguing but traditional schoolmaster, narrator Mike Grady gives a precisely punctuated performance that will make listeners feel as if they are enjoying a documentary. Unfortunately, much of the information is presented with plentiful, often grueling laundry lists of examples, dates, and numbers when a few well-chosen illustrations might have sufficed. The author attempts to make the material more accessible by taking readers back in time with occasional second-person presentations and sporadic "travel guide" references. This novel approach is largely unsuccessful in audiobook form owing to the copious minutia, redundant examples, and inherent difficulties of picturing intricate descriptions with only auditory stimulation. VERDICT This work will be well received by history enthusiasts, historical fiction readers, and researchers, but it will likely be too detailed for most readers with only casual interest.-Lisa -Youngblood, Harker Heights P.L., TX (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.