Were people in the Middle Ages really as dirty, stinky and generally unhygienic as writers and moviemakers would have us believe? Surprisingly, no.

That's the first topic author Daniele Cybulskie addresses in Life in Medieval Europe: Fact & Fiction, a slim but information-filled exploration of a frequently misunderstood period of history. She moves on from basic hygiene to topics such as food and drink, love, sex and marriage, political structures, crime and punishment, warfare and weaponry, religion, medical care, fashion and entertainment.

Cybulskie poses questions in each chapter, then answers them in a brief but thorough essay on each. Questions range over a broad array of subjects, such as:

Did medieval people take baths?
What about their teeth?
Wasn't the food all bland?
Were they constantly drunk?
Did they have dessert?
What about their sex lives?
Did they love their children?
Did everyone die young?
When a serf got married, did the lord get to sleep with the bride?
How did trial by combat and trial by ordeal work?
Was the longbow really that deadly?
Could they (knights) even move under all that armour?
Wasn't the church always burning people for heresy?
Did medieval people wear underwear?
Did anyone read for pleasure?

Each question gets a detailed answer, sometimes in just a couple of paragraphs, sometimes over several pages. It's a fast and friendly read, a quick way to pick up some interesting trivia about an era that frequently is portrayed incorrectly in popular culture.

Is it the ultimate guide to medieval history? Of course not. There are certainly more thorough and in-depth sources for a scholarly exploration of the era. But Daniele Cybulskie provides an entertaining overview of key aspects of the era. Unless they are already medieval scholars, readers will doubtless come away from Life in Medieval Europe with a much better understanding of its history.