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Cantor published his breakthrough narrative history of the Middle Ages. Each page was filled with insight and "ah-ha!" moments.In 1963 Norman F. It is a survey, Cantor does not present a new theory but uses best practices and state of the art of Medieval scholarship ca.

It focuses on those events, people, things and ideas which were truly unique in moving Western history forward - there is not much war-reportage, and a lot of intellectual history (intellectual history in the Middle Ages = Christianity), but he does get the important battles (Milvian Bridge, Bouvines, 100 years, etc.) It is a smooth narrative with a sort of BBC "Connections" flow from topic to topic, putting things into historical context and showing how one thing led to another and part of larger themes. It represents a career of teaching Medieval history to undergrads in New York, distilled down to what Cantor believes "most people want to know" about the Middle Ages. One of the few reliable, comprehensive, readable and enjoyable single-volume histories of the Middle Ages (Cantor covers 300-1500). If you have an interest in history or of the time period this book can explaing an shead light on an ages we consider to be dark. For those who read scholarly works it should be an enjoyable read.īecause I have read the book twice after many years I can see that after comming back to the book after having had more expreince and lerning I find that the book has a great deal to offer. I have noticed a great deal of high level vocabulary and it may be a roblem if you are not accustomed to it. I am sure those with a more indepth or specialized knowlege of some of the ideas and themes in this book can critque but I have noticed that several theories are often presented to expalin certian movements or evens of the middle ages.ĭepeninding on your reading comfort it can read like a novle or it can be tedious.

There are many themes introduced such as the philosophical ubnderpinning of the ideas of the Church and latter Roman Empire that might be hard to grasp if you are not fimilliar with the topoc. This book I would say is somwhere between an overview and a high level introduction.

I am on my second reading of this book and I can say that I am still learning a great deal.