Book Reviews

Vital Guide: Castle Ruins of Medieval England and Wales,
by Gunter Endres and Graham Hobster. Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, 2003. ISBN 1840374195. 112 pp.; 5 5/8” x 9”; color throughout; paperbound. $12.95.

To the casual visitor to Britain, there is often no single icon more memorable than a castle. Many have been extensively restored, often romantically incorrectly, so to have a true sense of their original form and ominous presence, one must visit ruins. This handy guide presents profiles of nearly eighty individual castles, in addition to short surveys of lesser groupings. The authors have also included useful short pieces on castle building (with a very short reading list), a British historical timeline, a glossary of castle terminology (some of which need additional tweaking to make them more user-friendly to the novice), a map of Britain with each castle sited, and an index of places and personages. Each entry discusses the particular castle’s historical context, includes one or more color photos, and often a plan of the castle, a listing of points of interest specific to each structure, and its location related to the nearest major roadway and the Ordnance Survey map coordinates. The book’s size is just about right for an outer coat pocket, or backpack.