A World Lit Only by Fire : The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance - Portrait of an Age

Rating:
Summary: Full of errors and cliches; not a serious history.
Review: Manchester doesn't even bother to distinguish between the "Dark Ages" and the "Middle Ages", and it's downhill from there. All the hoary cliches about the benighted filthy peasants and vicious nobles and clergy revived. Some new and interesting stuff about sex in the Middle Ages, however.

Rating:
Summary: A great read for those who disliked history in school
Review: Manchester's work is an enjoyable retelling of the period between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Although, it is not a "scholarly" work, it brings this important period into perspective in a way that everyone can understand. Of course there are weak points, but Manchester's work may entice, non-scholars to learn more. To the harsh critics of this work, I say; History is not the sole property of historians, nor should it be. Hat's off to Manchester for an entertaining an informative work that I've already passed on to several friends.

Rating:
Summary: Hoo, boy.
Review: I suppose the biggest problem I have with this book is that it does all of its entertaining by repeating partial facts, half-truths, and theories as though they were engraved in stone. It is a fun read, to be sure...if you are into juicy sex and salacious gossip...but people who read it come away with "facts" that are often not true at all. Read it, but don't make it your sole source of information, and try to ignore the author's concept that before the Renaissance, it was ALL BAD with NOTHING GOOD at all. Puh-lease.

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Summary: Entertaining view of the Renaissance
Review: Firstly I must admit that I have very little knowledge of the Renaissance (I found it a boring subject at school!) but I found this book to be a very interesting and entertaining account of that period. The author makes clear at the start of the book that it was not going to be a scholarly masterpiece. Fair enough, he produced what I think was a good book that got you thinking about the subject he was presenting. Now that he has sparked your interest you can go and find some scholarly tome to get the rest of the story. This book was an easy to read and lively account of that period and I found it a joy to read.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent and entertaining portrait of a time
Review: I have to say that as I read some of the reviews that I am amazed at some of the arrogance of the reviewers. The fact is that no matter if you are an expert in the period or just someone looking for a good read, an entertaining read, this book does the job well! Prof. Manchester is brilliant in his literal portrait of this period, and as a working historian, I found it enthralling, even if it isn't a so called scholarly work! Popular history is a term used, in my opinion, to describe a book that has color, as opposed to dry fact. Prof. manchester makes some very provocative statements, and presumptions, and I for one found that there WAS merit in his work. Who says you have to be an expert in a given area in order to write an excellent and entertaining work? I highly recommend it.

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Summary: Top notch popular history on the Middle Ages
Review: Manchester is not attempting to write a piece of scholarly work with this book but rather a work of popular history that should grab any layman's attention who has a fascination for the Middle Ages. The book is filled with what makes Manchester stand out as an author; masterful storytelling that puts the reader right in the middle of the event, colorful characters that make history come alive, and all of the interesting anecdotes that one does not hear in history class. It is not quite as good as his classics "The Glory and the Dream", or "Death of a President", but it does not disappoint and is a great book to start out with if one wants to begin studying this fascinating period in world history. If you want to get high school students turned on to the Middle Ages, then this is the book to start with. As a history teacher and as an historian, I highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Training Wheels
Review: The Amazon.com review is a bit harsh for this enjoyable book. Though Manchester is no Medievalist and has an inability to understand the age, his volume is an entertaining and highly accessible introduction to the period. For most readers, Manchester's obviously modern mindset will not stick out as much as his rich prose and talent for retelling stories. This is a fascinating read, and one which should get a much better review than what the world's biggest bookstore gives it.

Rating:
Summary: Cursory, but entertaining account.
Review: Manchester seems to be an interesting character himself from what can be ascertained from his writing...he just ups and decides to write about medieval-renaissance Europe from his sickbed. Well, I certainly can't say I wasn't entertained while reading this book...hell, i can guarantee I'll never read a more entertaing account of a papal orgy in my lifetime. Now for the scholarly criticism -- no breakthroughs to be found between the covers. First, if you really want to get an idea how awful medieval life was, read _A Distant Mirror_ and skip the first section. Then, he chooses Ferdinand Magellan as his "linchpin" for the Renaissance, but I really never understood why, except for the fact that he was quite dashing. Plus, guess who he identifies as the man who saved Europe from the depravity of the church? You guessed it...Martin Luther!! Such a controversial stance for a historian to take! His account of Luther's life owes everything to Erik Erikson's _Young Man Luther_, in fact he did an excellent job paraphrasing the book into two pages. In the end, and oddly enough for a modern historian, he ignores the socioeconomic conditions of the time as impetus for the Renaissance/Age of Discovery, and instead writes a composite biography of the Great Men of 13-14th century Europe. But sure, it has its redeeming qualities as well. I love his writing style, great for popular history. I especially loved his account of Magellan's circumnavigation, but the part where he says that Geoffrey Chaucer started the Age of Discovery is almost laughable. I had a lot of fun reading this and you probably will too, but if you're doing research, go somewhere else.

Rating:
Summary: Enlightening for the layperson.
Review: While Manchester acknowledges that he's not an expert in the era, I found the book to be excellent popular history that gave me a much greater feel for the era than weightier tomes ever would have done (since I never would have read them). His intoductory chapter on what it was really like to be a medieval peasant was a real revelation to me (I've seen far too many Hollywood versions of Robin Hood). Life was truly "nasty, brutish and short." When I tire of the pain and agony of modern life I only have to read the first 80 pages of this book to realize that we are now living in the best of times (all of our teeth, antibiotics, and hot water). I would recommend the book to any general reader interested in a feel for a far-gone era who isn't interested in becoming an expert.

Rating:
Summary: Awful
Review: Manchester's interpretation of the period is certainly original. Indeed, I think that Medieval and Renaissance scholars would dispute much of what he says. The work is shallow, superficial, and at times borders on distortion of fact (for example, the statement that Lucrezia Borgia was having incestuous relations with both her father and her brother, a view which is not widely held). For those who are interested in the Middle Ages or the Renaissance, there are many good books on the market. This isn't one of them. Try "Daily Living in the Twelfth Century" by Urban Tigner Holmes, or "The Black Death" by Philip Ziegler.