A World Lit Only by Fire
The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance - Portrait of an Age
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4.0 • 165개의 평가
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- US$9.99
출판사 설명
A "lively and engaging" history of the Middle Ages (Dallas Morning News) from the acclaimed historian William Manchester, author of The Last Lion.
From tales of chivalrous knights to the barbarity of trial by ordeal, no era has been a greater source of awe, horror, and wonder than the Middle Ages. In handsomely crafted prose, and with the grace and authority of his extraordinary gift for narrative history, William Manchester leads us from a civilization tottering on the brink of collapse to the grandeur of its rebirth: the dense explosion of energy that spawned some of history's greatest poets, philosophers, painters, adventurers, and reformers, as well as some of its most spectacular villains.
"Manchester provides easy access to a fascinating age when our modern mentality was just being born." --Chicago Tribune
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Manchester's marvelously vivid popular history humanizes the tumultuous span from the Dark Ages to the Renaissance. A one-week PW bestseller in cloth. Illustrations.
사용자 리뷰
An overview of the period
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 He criticized it for many outdated interpretations and outright fabrications.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.
Reader
If you don't like this book, you probably shouldn't be taking AP European History
Great book
If you say "most driest" you probably shouldn't be in AP anything.