A richly detailed social history that displays a deep sensitivity to its subjects' world-views....it signals future directions for studies that seek to uncover the memories of non-elite people in the medieval world.

AGRICULTURAL HISTORY REVIEW

A fascinating subject, deftly handled.

JOURNAL OF BRITISH STUDIES

The book's rich contents outline a multilayered vision of the period, in which memory became increasingly important for the sacrament of confession, with penitents urged to remember their sins and the circumstances surrounding them. Recommended.

CHOICE

[Terrific . . . Drawing on legal, medical, social, and gender studies, Kane looks not at theories of how memory was supposed to work but how memories were put into practice. In exploring how ordinary people applied the memory practices they were taught, Kane deftly demonstrates how they operated in the world.

- Katherine L. French, Speculum

A rewarding piece of work with lots of intelligent insights hidden within its larger argument.... This book is a must read for historians of any period interested in these themes, or just for those looking for a pleasurable escape into the lives of lower-order medieval families.

PARERGON