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Miscellaneous The Amateur Historian's Guide: Medieval and Tudor England Day Trips South of London by Sarah Valente Kettler and Carole Trimble $20.00 / Capital Books / 2002 If consistency is the hobgoblin of littles minds (as Ralph Waldo Emerson asserts), then it must also be the imp of the perverse. But there is nothing little about the minds of Mesdames Trimble and Kettler, even though they bradish consistency like a banner. And their particular hobgoblin takes the form of whimsy, thoroughness, organization, and plain old employment of the English language. In the second of their Amateur Historian's Guide series, these ladies leave no advice or hint unsaid which might ease the traveler's sojourn or add to a tourist's delight. Their comprehensive information on everything from phone numbers to time calculations is astonishing, but their real gift is their ability to wrap such mundane concerns inside the complex history of medieval and Tudor England. Little tips couched in historical sidebars are gems, and any armchair traveler who can read this foray into tourguiding without succembing to the urge to hop on a plane and follow in the authors' footsteps is far stronger than this reviewer. If their first guidebook was the Holy Grail, then I guess this book represents the rays of light radiating from the Grail. For if the hobgoblin of consistency produces such an effect for the delectaion of all readers, it would be a shame to exorcise it. Write on, ladies, write on! —Anjuli MacDonald of Clanranald

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