The life and times of Sir Thomas Malory, author of the 'Morte d'Arthur'.  Sir Thomas Malory's Morte d'Arthur (1469) is one of the best-known books in the world. Virtually all modern versions of the Arthurian legends are derived from its energetic, memorably phrased and remarkably individual telling of the stirring exploits of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. Yet the identity of the fifteenth-century knight who wrote it has remained an enigma for centuries. Only in the last few years has it become possible to construct a convincing life story for him.  His life was constantly eventful, marked by great achievement, desperate situations and, at times, deep disgrace. He was an experienced soldier, a star performer at tournaments, a connoisseur of literature, connected to the great and the good, yet he also escaped from prison twice, and was accused of terrible crimes ranging from assault and cattle-rustling to attacks on abbeys and even rape. The foremost chronicler of the legends of the Knights of the Round Table almost certainly wrote much of his great work while imprisoned. Christina Hardyment has written his life story, which was wild enough in itself, and in so doing has penned a social history of a fascinating period of English history, an age which marked the high-water mark of medieval chivalry but which was also an essential bridge from the Middle Ages to the modern world. The book is well furnished with details of clothes, food and domestic interiors, to say nothing of hunting, falconry and jousting techniques, and is a sumptuous work that fleshes out the man and the period in glorious detail.

Malory : The Life and Times of King Arthur's Chronicler

HARDYMENT, Christina

HarperCollins Publishers, Ltd

Traces the history of recommended approaches to child rearing, shows how and why advice has changed, and tells how to rely on common sense in selecting a child care approach

Dream Babies: Three Centuries of Good Advice on Child Care

Parenting & Relationships

Parenting

Harpercollins

Virtually all modern versions of the legend of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table are derived from a single book: Sir Thomas Malory's Morte d'Arthur (1469), one of the world's most renowned literary works. Yet the author, a fifteenth-century knight, has remained an enigma for centuries. Existing historical records imply that Malory was a criminal—accused of rape, ambush, rustling, and attacks on abbeys—and was imprisoned for most of his life.
Using evidence from new historical research and deductions from the only known manuscript copy of Malory's celebrated work, Christina Hardyment brilliantly resolves the contradictions about an extraordinary man and a life marked equally by great achievement and devastating disgrace. Malory is the fascinating chronicle of a loyal soldier enmeshed in the tangled politics of the Wars of the Roses. It is the story of a connoisseur of literature and exemplary writer who created a masterpiece meant to inspire princes and knights to high endeavors and noble acts.

Malory: The Knight Who Became King Arthur's Chronicler

Biographies & Memoirs

Arts & Literature

Harper-perennial

Sir Thomas Malory's Morte Darthur (1469) is one of the most renown books in the world. Virtually all modern versions of the Arthurian legends are derived from its energetic, memorably phrased and remarkably individual telling of the stirring exploits of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. Yet the identity of the fifteenth-century knight who wrote it has remained an enigma for centuries. The existing records of his life imply that he was a criminal-accused of rape, ambush, rustling and attacks on abbeys-and in prison for most of his life. 
 Using evidence from new historical research and deductions from the only known manuscript copy of Malory's masterpiece, Christina Hardyment resolves the contradictions in this brilliant story of a man who was marked by great achievement along with deep disgrace. She depicts Malory as an experienced soldier-who fought against the French with Henry V and was closely connected with the Knights Hospitallers' battles against the Turks in Rhodes-an expert on tournaments, a connoisseur of literature, a loyal subject who was deeply involved in the troubled politics of the Wars of the Roses, and a writer who intended his great work to inspire the princes and knights of his own time to high endeavors and noble acts. 
 Christina Hardyment has not only given Sir Thomas Malory a biography worthy of King Arthur's greatest chronicler, she has also set it against a fascinating background: an age that would see the high-water mark of medieval chivalry and would also come to be seen as a bridge between the Middle Ages and the modern world.

Harper

Parents have long been bombarded with conflicting advice on how to bring up their babies: from Locke, Rousseau, and Truby King to Spock, Penelope Leach and Gina Ford. Behaviourist warnings in the 1920s about physical contact ('Never hug and kiss them. Never let them sit in your lap') swung to Jean Liedloff's 'continuum concept' that babies should be wrapped round mum and fed on demand. Today enthusiasts for the 'family bed' are at war with Gina Ford's call for a return to the strict routines of pre-Spock days. Who is right and who is wrong? In this updated edition of her classic account of how and why the experts' advice has changed with changing times, Christina Hardyment analyses the anxieties of our own age and gives parents much-needed confidence in their own ability to choose the advice that best suits them and their babies.

Dream Babies: Child Care from Locke to Spock

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Oxford Univ. Pr.

From the mid-eighteenth century to the present day, parents have been bombarded with advice on how to look after their babies. Here, Christina Hardyment provides a much-needed new perspective on the whole perplexing business, showing that not only has the advice given always been subject to the prevailing fashions and to the personal quirks of their authors, but that the books have had a hand in provoking the anxieties they set out to quell. From Rousseau and Locke to Lydia Child and Maria Edgeworth; from James B. Watson's admonitions about physical contact ("Never hug and kiss them.") to Jean Liedloff's insistence that babies should be kept physically attached to their mothers until they positively struggle to get away, it's all here: the exortations, the warnings, the assurances on everything from the breast to the potty. erfect Parents is an absolutely superb slice of social history--extraordinary, riveting, hair-raising, funny and, ultimately, wonderfully reassuring.

Perfect Parents: Baby-Care Advice Past and Present

Oxford University Press

This title is one in a series of books in which some of the world's most distinguished academics and writers in their particular fields attempt to forecast the future, over the next 50 years, across a range of social, economic, political , geographical, and technological subject areas.

The Future of the Family (Predictions)

Orion Publishing

The canary-coloured cart: One familyʼs search for storybook Europe

Travel

William Heinemann, Ltd.

Slice of life: The British way of eating since 1945

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

BBC Books

Home Comfort: History of Domestic Arrangements

History

Historical Study & Educational Resources

VIKING

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Books by HARDYMENT, Christina