A World Lit Only by Fire

My old classics professor from SMU, Jeremy duQuesnay Adams, the foremost expert in medieval history of his era, wrote a scathing critical review of Mr Manchester’s book. He criticized it for many outdated interpretations and outright fabrications. However, I do feel “A World Lit Only by Fire” has merit. Normally I will read a book of this length leisurely over a week to ten days. I spent over three weeks on this one in an electronic format. Nearly every page provided an opportunity to follow links or to initiate internet searches to perform wider reading on various topics. Mr Manchester does utilize a great deal of artistic verisimilitude (to quote WS Gilbert) in his writing of this book. For example, his colorful description of the banquet of the chestnuts is not fully supported by the sole account by Johann Burchard. The story of the Pied Piper has a number of possible origins: Manchester picked one of the darkest as the only explanation. I have found, after reading “Goodbye Darkness” Mr Manchester’s references to war, battle, heroism and strategy are deeply influenced by his experience as a Purple Heart awarded Marine Sergeant who barely survived Okinawa and spent months recovering from his wounds. These experiences come through in his interpretation of various events in “A World Lit Only by Fire”. The book is,in my opinion, a good outline of the medieval and renaissance periods. If utilized as a guide to explore the era more widely it can demonstrate merit. I would take all of it with a grain of salt understanding Mr Manchester exercised a great deal of artistic license.

If you don't like this book, you probably shouldn't be taking AP European History

If you say "most driest" you probably shouldn't be in AP anything.