hopefulskeptic

A Good Reference Book, Jan 2 2004

This 280 page book is a useful reference as an overview of Medieval Europe but is very dry as a read because of the necessary brevity in this small book. Thirty-seven different Scottish university scholars contributed to the work so it is uneven in its textual presentation and illustration. The sections of the book are Early Medieval (from the fall of the western Roman empire to ca 1100), Central Middle Ages (c 1100 - c 1300), and Late Middle Ages (c 1300 - c 1500) and each of these sections is broken down into Politics; Religion; Government, Society and Economy; and Culture.

One of the principal strengths of the work is the profusion of maps - well over a hundred I should think. They… Read more

Time Well Spent, Oct 30 2003

Cantor's book covers the civilization of the Middle Ages from ca 300 CE to 1500 CE but most of it is spent in the period from ca 500 CE to 1450 CE. It does provide, however, a good chapter on each of the following: (1) a very short summary of the classical Greek, Roman and Hebrew heritage, (2) a very short history of the early Christian church plus (3) an overview of the Roman Catholic church through Pope Gregory VII, and a short overview of the barbarian invasions that helped bring down the Roman Empire. He then used the remainder of 443 pages to describe what his view is of the process of building a civilization in Europe from the ashes of the Roman Empire and the largely illiterate… Read more

Disappointed, Aug 21 2003

...The dreams are based on different views of how time might vary from one place to another and the implications of such variations. Some are within the bounds of my imagination but many seem to me to be quite far fetched and unhelpful in understanding the effects of such variations and it seems unlikely that Einstein's brain would have entertained such views even when he was asleep.