"Abundantly full of fascinating facts this wonderful LoveReading Star book explores all aspects of castles across centuries and continents the author himself has visited."
An absolutely captivating celebration of castles from author, historian, and presenter Dan Jones. He describes the history of these castles in all their glory, covering several thousand years while roaming different continents.
The twelve sections begin with Bronze Age Cities, move through time to Norman, Crusader, and Chivalric Castles, and eventually lead to American Castles (which of course includes Hearst Castle and The Sleeping Beauty Castle), even Dracula makes an appearance at one stage.
The author ranges in subjects surrounding these defences, follies, and fantasies; geography rules and alongside human stories, information spills across the page and I revelled in it. As the author himself says: “What is a castle? That is a surprisingly difficult question to answer definitively, and if you approach a historian with it casually, you are likely to be strongly besieged”.
He later explains his reasoning: “this book takes a broad view on what a castle was - and is.”, “So, this is a book that takes an inclusive, ecumenical, maximalist approach to its topic.”
It feels as though the author thoroughly enjoyed his research, and the castles featured here are ones he has personally toured. As you gallivant through history with him, there are intrigues, rollicking tales, and intense brutal battles to discover.
This would make a fabulous gift for others or yourself and for its sheer exuberance on its subject I have chosen it as a LoveReading Star Book. Castles is a wonderfully gripping and fascinating read I can highly recommend.
From the bestselling author of The Templars and Powers and Thrones, Dan Jones returns with Castles: a gripping history of the world told through over three thousand years of iconic strongholds.
| Primary Genre | History |
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From the bestselling author of The Templars and Powers and Thrones, Dan Jones returns with Castles: a gripping history of the world told through over three thousand years of iconic strongholds.Castles have been built to defend humanity for millennia - from the walls of Troy and the desert bastion of Krak des Chevaliers in Syria; to Windsor Castle and the Tower of London; to Himeji in Japan and the Maginot Line in the Second World War. They have inspired terror and ambition, foiled conquering forces, and been deployed as the ultimate expression of wealth, status and supremacy.Jones leads readers on a journey through centuries and across continents as each castle tells a unique story of power, politics and survival, revealing the shifting tides of warfare, the rise and fall of empires, the resilience of people under siege and the flourishing of new ideas.Blending rich storytelling, cutting-edge research and beautiful original illustrations, Castles is an epic story of how humans first came to build fortifications and how they expanded into powerfully capturing our imagination.
Castles features in the following genres: Non-Fiction Books of the Month, Recommendations, Star Books, History, Military history, History and Archaeology, Military history, Architecture: castles and fortifications, History
Hardback. £27.00, down from the £30.00 cover price. Pre-order. 8th October 2026.
Castles was written by Dan Jones and published by Apollo an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing (UK)
Castles has 448 pages
£27.00, reduced from £30.00. Pre-order. 8th October 2026.
