How to Be a Tudor

A Dawn-to-Dusk Guide to Tudor Life

By: Ruth Goodman

Narrated by: Heather Wilds

On the heels of her triumphant How to Be a Victorian, Ruth Goodman travels even further back in English history to the era closest to her heart, the dramatic period from the crowning of Henry VII to the death of Elizabeth I.

Drawing on her own adventures living in re-created Tudor conditions, Goodman serves as our intrepid guide to 16th-century living. Proceeding from daybreak to bedtime, this charming, illustrative work celebrates the ordinary lives of those who labored through the era. From sounding the "hue and cry" to alert a village to danger to malting grain for homemade ale, from the gruesome sport of bear-baiting to cuckolding and cross-dressing - the madcap habits and revealing intimacies of life in the time of Shakespeare are vividly rendered for the insatiably curious.

©2016 Ruth Goodman. First American Edition 2016. Recorded by arrangement with Liveright Publishing Corporation, a division of W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. (P)2016 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Critic reviews

"If the past is a foreign country, we’re lucky to have such a knowledgeable cicerone as Ruth Goodman." ( Wall Street Journal)

Ruth is my favorite

She is the ideal historian for me! Being revolved around homemaking, cooking, and English History, she is all that and more wrapped up into one very intelligent, fun and overall perfect go to for Tudor life!

so informing!

it was so cool to read/hear how thinks were done back then. I want to hear more!

Everyday Life

For anyone who wonders about history beyond wars and the real stories behind tv dramas this is a good starting point to understanding the people of Tudor times.

Great book — confused by ending

The author’s experience with Tudor period practices — from knotting silk braid to making ale — made this book great fun. I was enjoying it, and coming to the end of the day with sleep, when the book seemed to suddenly end. Did they run out of studio time or something? Weird. But the rest of it is great!

Emotionless narrator leaves a bit to be desired

Other than the slightly robotic narrator, the book was very good. I really enjoy Ruth Goodman and the Tudor time period.