For the recent past castle studies has been dominated by the idea of the castle as a symbol of social status. This view has now widen out into looking at castles within a social landscape. So that castles are no longer viewed just as buildings, or as homes of lords, but as part of a varied medieval landscape where the castle had many roles for rich and poor, for lay people and clerics, within towns and countryside. This book by Oliver Creighton expounds and illustrates this view. The book is based on his doctorate thesis, and the introduction is spoilt by some misused jargon (ie "Darwinian sequence of increasing technological sophistication" Darwinian evolution is not progressive.) which makes it a little less accessible than the rest of it's excellent content deserves. A full indepth look at castle landscape studies with some excellent case studies and, unsuprisingly for a book so based on a doctorate thesis, a very full bibliography. 288 pages.