by David Howarth (1977).
I almost passed this one up on account of it was only 200 pages ($12.95 paperback), but Mr Howarth says more and says it more clearly than others could do in three times that length.
To cite familiar examples, his writing is one a par with our best popular Civil War historians, but of course deals with the events pertaining to that fateful year that changed the whole history of the British Isles.
Mr Howarth combines such facts as the total number of military levies available in Saxon England at that time (about 50,000) and the population and taxable value of certain English villages before and after the conquest with the practical military matters of tactics, training and weaponry.
A thorough discussion too of the state and limitations of northern shipbuilding and seafaring at that time, Viking and otherwise, and how these limitations came to affect the sequence of events.
A must read, even if you are only mildly interested in Medieval history.
Birdwatcher
