Rating: 
Summary: A World Lit Only by Fire
Review: This book stinks! It is full of opinionated inacuracies and crude generalisations. Absolute drivel, just don't buy it! Get Tuckman's A Distant Mirror instead.
Rating: 
Summary: Fine writing marred by overt bias
Review: Reading this book, I was continually reminded of an observation made some years ago by my professor of medieval French literature, in response to a student's question about whether Renaissance was superior to medieval culture. The professor responded, "Do you know why so many people fainted in the presence of King Louis XIV? Not because they were overcome by awe, but because the man stank so badly--he never bathed the royal body!" He went on to contrast what he perceived as the appalling personal hygiene habits of the Renaissance with the more regular bathing practices of medieval people. Sure, maybe this was just another exaggeration in the long-running and acrimonious debate between medievalists and Renaissance scholars. The point is, however, that when you start trying to retrofit historical periods with modern values and judgments, you invite an unending stream of "yes, but..." retorts. Manchester's book deserves more than its share of retorts. It has many overt biases, beginning with the title. Lit only by fire? Did the sun never shine between the years 1000 to 1500? Was every human alive in those centuries as darkly ignorant as Manchester depicts them? One wonders if Manchester has ever seen such wonders of the Middle Ages as the Cathedral of Chartres and Notre Dame de Paris or experienced the wonderous effect of light shining through their stained-glass windows. The book is stridently anti-Catholic. In principle I don't mind even though I'm Catholic, because the Church--as would any institution of such longevity--has quite a few skeletons in the closet. So, yes, but... the Church also had a hand in the beginning of universities, hospitals, charitable institutions, and much else that we regard as good. It provided refuge and served to hold the power of kings and lords in check. My teenage son is reading this book as required summer reading, and his first comments only a few chapters into it echoed those of other reviewers on this site: the negativism and salacious stuff are laid on so thick it becomes tiresome, and eventually downright annoying. Nonetheless, there is no gainsaying the effortless quality of Manchester's writing, and the chapters on Magellan and the age of exploration are superb. Yes, but... I don't suppose the Incans or the Aztecs much appreciated the coming of the Europeans.
Rating: 
Summary: The Dark Ages-When the World Was Ruled by Christianity
Review: Christianity is not the only man hating belief that sets its self above Man. All forms of collectivism hold that the individual should be sacrificed to a greater good. And all of them try to subordinate Man to their will with all force necessary. They wouldn't have to use force (they say) if people would just obey! In modern (Collectivist) times we were taught that ideally collectivism is noble, but Ayn Rand showed us how to defuse that little booby trap. Manchester shows us the Dark Ages, 1000 years of factual, Christian and Collectivist idealism. They lived in squalor. Manchester writes, "The centerpiece of the room was a gigantic bedstead, piled high with straw pallets, all seething with vermin. Everyone slept there, regardless of age or gender... almost all the floors were of clay and rushes from the marshes harboring spittle and vomit..." Christianity was in control for one thousand years. Was their aim to enlighten? No, it was to subjugate. Did they show Man how to lift his head? No, taught him to bow it. Did they teach Man how to live a better life on earth? No, they despised this earth. Did they teach Man to get off his knees and take pride in himself? No, pride is a sin and Self is evil. They had Man exactly where they wanted him - a mindless, tormented zombie who had no name and lived for centuries in the same nameless hamlet. And for those who were brave enough to argue; they were burned to death. Life on earth was as horrible as the depraved Christians could make it. And, some of them relished the misery and were actually arouse by the pain they inflicted. It's all in the book. Manchester shows how evil the enemies of Individualism are and how they try to subjugate the individual to their greater good! If you can call the Dark Ages good. For a thousand years the Man haters enjoyed the spectacle of Man crawling on his belly and the spectacle of Man being brutalized, AND OF MAN BEING OBEDIENT!!! When the Heroes of the Enlightenment finally gained enough force to make a difference they found the unbearably, sad refuse of a thousand year of torture was hard to see. Manchester writes, "The mighty storm was swiftly approaching, but Europeans were not only unaware of it; they were convinced that such a phenomenon could not exist. Shackled in ignorance, disciplined by fear, and sheathed in superstition, they trudged into the sixteenth century in the clumsy, hunched, pigeon-toed gait of rickets victims, their vacant faces pocked by smallpox, turned blindly toward the future they thought the knew - gullible, pitiful innocents who were about to be swept up in the most powerful, incomprehensible, irresistible vortex since Alaric had led his Visigoths and Huns across the Alps fallen on Rome, and extinguished the lamps of learning a thousand years before". If you believe that you have a right to your life. You have the moral duty to know who your enemies are who wish to take your right from you. Manchester shows us who those enemies are. TO THE GLORY OF MAN!
Rating: 
Summary: Well....
Review: I have to admit I started reading this book as a required summer read for a history course. I never have enjoyed history that much, and I assumed this book would be filled with boring dates and facts. However, this book suprised me! The author seems to have a sixth sense of when to provide details or leave them out, giving the book a unique flow that I have not seen in other historical texts. I would not recomend this book to someone wo does not enjoy history AT ALL, but anyone with even a minimum liking for the subject should definatly pick this one up. Happy reading!
Rating: 
Summary: European history as tabloid cover story
Review: Having enjoyed William Manchester's works in the past, and being interested in the material supposedly covered in this book, I was prepared to enjoy A World Lit Only by Fire when I sat down with it. But, as much as I would have liked to, I couldn't. Manchester states that he's no expert on the period, and neither am I, but even I could see the glaring and seemingly endless number of factual errors throughout the book, not to mention the myths (such as that of "la belle Ferroniere" and Francis I) he presents as fact. The book isn't really even about the Middle Ages, aside from twenty or so pages Manchester devotes to outlining that thousand years of European history. The majority of the book is dedicated to Renaissance and post-Renaissance Europe, and a sizable chunk of that is solely concerned with the career of Magellan. This would be acceptable, of course, if Manchester's "history" wasn't just a rehash of 19th (!) century clichés and stereotypes about the Middle Ages: that is, a Europe composed wholly of mud, blood, sex, torture and ridiculous superstition, utterly worthless and depraved. And although I'm certainly not a fan of the Catholic Church, Manchester's endless cavalcade of largely unsubstantiated potshots at that institution is particularly annoying. If this book was someone's sole source of information on the time period, they'd be excused for thinking that Europe from the fall of Rome to the rediscovery of Classical culture in the Renaissance was pretty much composed of people expiring from sexually transmitted diseases... when they weren't poisoning popes and burning witches, that is. So, why two stars and not one? A World Lit Only by Fire may be tabloid history, but it could be considered a guilty pleasure if you keep in mind that it's utter nonsense. The portion of the book dedicated to Magellan is also a cut above the rest. Given that the majority of readers will probably be utterly ignorant about this time period, though, it's pretty irresponsible of Manchester to present a bunch of unrelated half-truths and myths as history. He says in his Author's Note--along with various other veiled apologies--that he didn't plan out the writing of this book in advance and it certainly shows. If you want to read about the time period covered in this book without sacrificing facts for readability (or vice versa), try A Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchman, the appropriate volumes of The Story of Civilization by Will Durant (The Age of Faith, The Renaissance, and The Reformation) or The Civilization of the Middle Ages by Norman Cantor. They show that reading about this period can be both entertaining and informative, even if there isn't a bloodthirsty, syphilitic twelve year-old bishop on every page.
Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Read
Review: This book is beautifully written. It moves at a fast (tho' not too fast) pace. Manchester here paints for his readers a vivid picture of life in late medieval and early Renaissance Europe. Overall, the picture isn't pretty, but it is unquestionably captivating. Read this book to get a sound perspective on our world today. Finally, although the last part of the book, on Magellan and his voyage, is not integral to the bulk of the book, Manchester's portrait of Magellen sparkles with insight. It is one of the most enjoyable pieces that I've read in a long while.
Rating:
Summary: Masterful Work
Review: A World Lit Only by Fire, is a succinct, fast paced history of Europe from the fall of the Roman Empire and concluding with Magellan's famous voyage around the world. The life styles, politics and religions of Europeans of the Middle Ages, Renaissance and Luther's Reformation come to life as Manchester skillfully draws a clear, literary picture in slightly less than 300 pages. This is a fast read and recommended for anyone interest (or even slightly curious) about the conditions in which people worked and lived during these periods.
Rating:
Summary: History dangerous?
Review: Maybe it should be gratifying to see so many afraid of this book, to know that people still are reading history and holding a strong point of view. But dangerous? This book is fascinating, informative and downright breathtaking in its account of medieval Europe. My wife and I read it a few years ago on our first trip through Italy, so it was quite immediate and suitable to the setting (Florence and Rome)...
Rating:
Summary: Dreary, dangerous, depressing?
Review: While I find Mr. Manchester's style forceful and gripping, I don't at all agree with his description of the Middle Ages as one thousand years of slaughter, famine and pervert popes rollicking around, with very little else taking place. With the sole exception (thank God!) of the fornicating popes, the same things take place in our own times (the Holocaust, the Middle East wars, Somalia, endemic poverty in South America, and so on and on) and no one cries out that we're living in a "dark age" - even though we are.(In fact, I would be very wary of any book that tried to convince me that nothing worthwhile happened in a thousand years.) Mr. Manchester forgets the mystics, the poets, the painters, the pilgrims, and what not. His book, which is evidently aimed at the non-historians (a category I belong in), is exaggeratedly simplistic and reads like a sensationalist magazine. I don't like to read clichés - I consider myself, as a reader of average intelligence, to deserve better. Besides, some of the information Mr. Manchester gives seems at least dubious. For example: "(page 22) Among the implications of this lack of selfhood was an almost total indifference to privacy. In summertime peasants went about naked". Really? Where? This is a typical example of a subject which is approached in a seemingly serious way, only to draw a conclusion which is too general in scope, and too insufficiently explained, to be believable. Another example of big words and small seriousness: "(page 67) On Sundays, under watchful parental eyes, girls would dress modestly and be demure in church, but on weekdays they opened their blouses, hiked their skirts, and romped through the fields in search of phalli". Give me a break!!! All in all, this book, in spite of its powerful style (which was mildly entertaining until it became too inaccurate to read)was a disappointment. For a deeper probing into medieval life and thought, I recommend Johan Huizinga's "The Autumn of the Middle Ages". It's a much older work, but much better too.
Rating:
Summary: Very Juicy
Review: This book certainly is juicy- full of all the sort of sex news and human corruption you'd find in the paparazzi pulp literature of the impulse-buy section near the check-out register at your local major grocery store. Fortunately for Manchester (and the reader) the last chapter on Magellan's great voyage around the world is so fascinating that it almost redeems the first 200 pages of this true sleaze 'literature'. This book should be subtitled 'Sex Sells'.
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