When Adam Delved and Eve Span: A History of the Peasants' Revolt of 1381

by Mark O'Brien

Nonfiction. British History. Mark O'Brien's WHEN ADAM DELVED AND EVE SPAN is a new introductory history of the inspirational English peasant rising of 1381. Against the backdrop of fourteenth-century England—including the daily struggle of peasants for food and justice, and the devastation wrought by the Black Death—the book recounts the events of the Peasants' Revolt, both in London and in the regions. The book conveys the breathtaking speed of the revolt and brings rebel leaders such as Wat Tyler and John Ball to life. O'Brien combines a well-grounded historical setting with an account of the events that deliberately stresses the excitement of the rising.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, British Literature, Politics

112 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2004

Reviews

[John Lesmeister · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent, fairly straightforward Marxist history of the peasants' uprising of 1381. Analytically, O'Brien's work does a good job of connecting the events to the internal contradictions, economic and ideological, of feudalism, and how these are expressed in the contradictions of the revolution itself; how the peasants' animating desire for freedom comes out in a double way, in the immediate struggle of the serfs for emancipation from the lords, and in the more utopian struggle of John Ball and his followers for a communistic, classless society. It's also an explicitly partisan work, which makes for great impassioned reading in the vein of John Reed's Ten Days That Shook the World. My only criticism is that its broader historical viewpoint is highly Anglo- and Euro-centric. In the conclusion, when O'Brien asserts that the peasants' revolt was the "first revolution", he ignores the fact that a very similar uprising, of peasants against feudal lordship, and under the leadership of a radical clergyman (Mazdak) with communistic ideas, had occurred in Persia--almost a millennium prior.

[Jenny]

I liked how this was fairly complex, yet didn't assume any prior knowledge. I also liked the way it unashamedly sided with the peasants =)

[Natalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

First read in March, 2009:

While apologetically subjective, this was a terrific writing of history. One very common shortfall for historians is writing about their subject as if the people of that time were a different species. O'Brien is really able to make the peasants and others of medieval England seem as real and important as any person alive today.

Plus, who doesn't like history with a bit of a Marxist spin? :)

Re-read in 2012:

Love it. Fun, approachable, inspirational, and short. A fantastic snapshot of a fascinating event in history.

[Michael Sturza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Recommended.

[Damian Gomes · Rating 5 out of 5]

No solution but revolution!
Lots more to read but a great starter!

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent introduction to the Peasants Revolt which appears to have been written out of history as there is so little reference to it now. The book explains the conditions for ordinary people leading up to the insurrection and how influential it has been on future radical thought and events. An essential corrective to the revisionist and dismissive accounts of the revolution from establishment historians.