A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century, published in 1978, is a work by American historian Barbara Tuchman, focusing on life in 14th century Europe.

To provide a central figure in ther sweeping narrative, Tuchman chose the French nobleman Enguerrand de Coucy , partly because he lived a relatively long life and could therefore stay in the story during most of the 14th century, but mostly because he was in the forefront of action, deep in the councils of both England and France. The book covers the cataclysms suffered by Europe in the 14th century: the Hundred Years War, the Black Plague, the papal schism, pillaging mercenaries, and popular revolts, including the Jacquerie in France, ruthlessly suppressed by Enguerrand and his conntemporaries, the liberation of Switzerland and the Battle of the Golden Spurs.

Her most central text, as it is for any historian of the century, is Jean Froissart.