I waffled between 4 and 5 stars for this. I think Peacock could do with some slightly more accurate titles. This is a history of western European shoes, with ancient Mesopotamia, Greece and Egypt thrown in for length. Beyond those, there is nothing on even eastern Europe, let alone Asia, Africa, etc. I also suspect from his books that Peacock does not really approve of our casual age. I saw only a single tennis shoe; none of the clogs and earth shoes that were so typical of the late 1960s and early 1970s; and none of the elaborate athletic shoes. Peacock does say that he is focusing chiefly on fashionable shoes, but I think that the high-end athletic shoes qualify as designer models, even if the other don't.

Given that, it's wonderful for what it does cover. Men's shoes are included. My favorite part is the ancient shoes; I have never seen such a variety illustrated.

The pages have small but clear drawings of usually 7 or 8 shoes per page, with minimal labelling. More detailed labelling follows. The time length covered by each section varies; as one might expect, shorter period are covered for more recent shoes. This is not as lush as the photographic collections of shoes, but I think it's more helpful as a history, especially for older styles which may have been reconstructed from fragments.

The introduction gives a brief history of the development of the shoes. There is a timeline where the shoes are reproduced as outline drawings to get a idea of the flow of change. This is followed by a concise history of designers and companies, and a bibliography.

So, it doesn't have a scholarly historical text, I don't recommend it for people as a book for gaping over startling shoes, but it is a very good visual history. ( )