Rating: 
Summary: Needed a grad student to edit his MS!
Review: Haven't even READ the book yet, but the errors fairly drop from Cantor's pen ... Adrianople was "the first defeat of Rome by Germans"? What about Arminius's taking out 3 legions in A.D. 9? The Arabs took Constantinople? That would've surprised all the Turks who were there! And it's not "just" military history. A medievalist who can write that in Jesus "the Holy Spirit assumed form" is woefully confused about Christian dogma, which (however vain a discipline) is kind of important in writing about "the civilization of the Middle Ages."A little Googling yields several examples from other books of Cantor's carelessness with facts. I don't mean to impugn his grasp of his specialty, but don't trust any "fact" in his book unless you find it confirmed elsewhere.
Rating:
Summary: Needed a grad student to edit his MS!
Review: Haven't even READ the book yet, but the errors fairly drop from Cantor's pen ... Adrianople was "the first defeat of Rome by Germans"? What about Arminius's taking out 3 legions in A.D. 9? The Arabs took Constantinople? That would've surprised all the Turks who were there! And it's not "just" military history. A medievalist who can write that in Jesus "the Holy Spirit assumed form" is woefully confused about Christian dogma, which (however vain a discipline) is kind of important in writing about "the civilization of the Middle Ages." A little Googling yields several examples from other books of Cantor's carelessness with facts. I don't mean to impugn his grasp of his specialty, but don't trust any "fact" in his book unless you find it confirmed elsewhere.
Rating: 
Summary: A great introduction to medieval history
Review: I am far from being a medieval history expert. I bought the book just out of curiosity. This book reveals a complete and very interesting part of western history. I strongly recommend this book to those who want to get a general idea of the historical period. It is readable and at the same time it is profound.
Rating: 
Summary: A good introduction, after some critical corrections
Review: I looked forward to this book when it first came out based on the author's reputation. His previous book, Inventing the Middle Ages,was great, and based on his comments of other historians, usually non-academic, believed he had high standards. In the first edition hard cover edition, on which part of this review is based, he stated Marco Polo was from Florence and that the Arabs took the Byzantine capital. Casual readers know that Polo was from Venice and that it was the Turks who conquered Constantinople. Despite a letter to the publisher, no erata sheet or response was ever received. It is good to note that Marco Polo is now acknowledged as Venetian, and that while the Turks have not received their due, as least it reads Moslem armies. Still, a scholar of Mr. Cantor's reputation, should have known better. Even more important, publishers have a obligation to produce erata sheets to ensure that history is as accurate as possible. (We may have different views o! f objective facts, but these two items are as factual as fallable humans can be sure of.) In short, a readable book that can now be recommended for those who want a good, easy reading introduction. For me, the obvious errors of the first edition and lack of response to my inquiries still cause concern. Thank goodness for the internet and Amazon where these views can now be expressed instead of ignored.
Rating: 
Summary: Too much analytical and philosophical narrative
Review: I was disappointed with this book. I had hoped for a book that might chronicle the formation of the various European powers. I had hoped to learn about the development of the monetary systems, architecture, and technology of the Middle Ages. I expected to learn about some of the principle figures that helped to evolve history as well as Western thought. I wanted to know about the plagues and the great wars. Instead this was a book of unending analysis with very little concrete facts. The reader had to extract what little information there was from the unending analytical narrative. The book was loaded with lofty discussion about barons and the bourgeois and imperial powers and the proletariat and knights and feudal lords - but precious little, for example, about Charlemagne or King Henry II. A book with all analysis and no facts is like having a basket of ornaments and no Christmas tree to hang them on. I would read and reread sections of the book where I couldn't keep my mind on the words because I couldn't understand the context. ....With rare exception Cantor concentrated on the spread of Christianity and Christian thought. There was a chapter on the Muslims and Jews that serves as an exception, but almost all the book is centered around the church. I also detected a bias by Cantor in favor of the church. He dismissed the Donation of Constantine - which was an enormous fraud perpetuated by the Pope against all of western Europe - as nothing more than a clerical shortcut. And he dutifully attacked the anticlerical movement - which argued that the Pope was the antichrist - as irrational and beyond reason. Much of middle ages could fit that description but only this particular social movement elicited Cantor's criticism. And, finally, when Cantor argued that Pope Innocent's forcible isolation of the Jews might have been necessary given the political climate of the time, I began to suspect that the Christian church was getting preferential treatment. If the reader is expecting a history of Christian thought - particularly one that takes a gentle view - then this is a good book. But if the reader is hoping for a true history of civilization in the Middle Ages, I suspect he will also be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Accessible, enjoyable introduction to keep handy for later
Review: I was fortunate enough to buy this book the night before coming down with a nasty flu. I barely put it down and it made the ordeal tolerable. This book is definitely of an introductory nature. My father, a medievalist, read it at the same time and gave it a lukewarm approval. His main complaint was that it contained too many generalizations, but admitted they are tough to avoid in this type of survey. Now let me tell you the good part. If you know little or nothing about the middle ages and need a meaningful introduction, this is a good one. A strong point is the balance between narrative and analysis; this book tells you what happened but also why it matters. Everything is given proper context. Moreover, the book takes its title seriously; besides the standard discussion of political events, it describes the evolution of society, economy, and philosophy, key ingredients for understanding what a civilization was like. Cantor is accessible to a wide audience. For example, he gives short summaries of both Platonic and Aristotelian philosophies to help the reader better understand some of the intellectual debates of the times. I have a minor complaint with the organization of the book, which is more topical than chronological. Although this choice certainly has its merits, it makes it a little difficult for someone unfamiliar with the storyline to associate contemporary events that are treated in different chapters. This is the only aspect of the book that is at all difficult for a newcomer and certainly not a serious problem. The topical organization, however, impresses upon the reader the central themes of medieval history such as the rise and fall of the papacy and growth of national monarchies. Several popes, thinkers, and saints are memorably sketched and their contributions clearly stated. You will understand why Saint Benedict and his organization of monasteries is famous after reading this book. For those who wish to delve further, a short and long bibliography are given. My only complaint is that the long bibliography contains about 150 entries without any kind of organization, so finding a book on a given time period, topic, or location requires scanning through the entire list. I did find this book interesting enough, however, to pick up one out of the bibliography that is equally good (History of Medieval Spain by O'Callaghan). [Reviewer's background: I am a non-historian who likes to read history as a hobby. This was the first book on medieval history that I have read. I have previously read one world history survey (ancient to modern times) book.]
Rating:
Summary: Great disappointment
Review: I was very disappointed by the book. More properly, it should have been named "The history of the Roman Catholic Church", since three quarters of the book are devoted to christian theology and church institutions. Very little attention is paid to agriculture, technology, mililary organization, diplomacy, etc. Moreover, the books never strays outside the Western Europe. The Balkans, Scandinavia, and Eastern Europe are hardly ever mentioned, and the Moslem and Jewish cultures are treated only as external influences on the "civilized world", not as parts of it. Throughout the book, "civilization" is implicitly equated with christianity, - and only one of its varieties, at that. I ended up learning far too much about obscure doctrinal disputes, but nothing about the real world that paved the way for our own.
Rating:
Summary: Civilization of the Middle Ages
Review: If I may be pardoned for beginning with a banality, the troublewith general history books is that they sacrifice detail forreadability. However, Prof. Cantor generally avoids the troubles inherent in such an undertaking. His strong grasp of the philosophical problems of the time make for very entertaining reading. If you're looking for a great deal of material dealing with economic or social problems it might be wiser to look elsewhere. The work mainly deals with the struggle to define the place of the church within the state. IMHO, Prof. Cantor is at his best when discussing the implosion created by the rediscovery of Aristotle and the efforts of a young Europe to integrate his work into their Judeo-Platonic worldview. It is a very readable book but I felt that the last two chapters (which had been almost entirely reworked for this edition) lacked a taut structure. They read like they were written because the period had to be covered in a work such as this. The professor's focus on themes rather than chronology resulted in what I felt was a very scattered second to last chapter. And one last quibble: no maps. Those being introduced to the Middle Ages are not always going to know the location of Alsace or Flanders or Cordoba. All that said, I do recommend the book.
Rating:
Summary: The best one-volume to own
Review: In other reviews I have named several introductory books on Medieval philsophy, but Cantor's general-purpose book includes all this and more. A true do-it-yourself book on the Middle Ages, this relatively non-technical volume covers every inch of ground that the novice or intermediate-level student or general reader might need to know. A must-have for students and anyone who deals regularly with the Medieval era, since for cultural and political context Cantor's book is on the A-list. No notes and not much supplemental information, and this is a put-off, but for raw information (which is mostly all one needs at the intro level) this is the book to read. I also recommend that it be read in conjunciton with or immediately preceding Marcia Colish's book The Medieval Foundations of the Western Intellectual Tradition 400-1400. This volume is more for specialists, but is an excellent compliment to Cantor's work.
Rating:
Summary: Really deserves a 4.5
Review: In the Wake of the Plague is accessible, intelligent, and well worth the read. Cantor connects the plague in a persuasive and understandable manner to key elements in the evolution (and devolution) of civilization, and manages to tie this event -- which cut across all of the lives of the time -- with changes in the economic, social, political, scientific, philosophical, and personal lives of men AND (specifically) women. Why did I short Dr. Cantor a star? Well, histories like this are both thrilling and a little bit of a trap. If you ever had a compelling, intriguing teacher like Dr. Cantor, you can sometimes forget the larger, more contentious world of history surrounding this very persuasive version of events. Being a pedant myself, I wish this awareness -- of other views, of the power of other events -- had been given more weight.
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