Abbot Suger of St-Denis: Church and State in Early Twelfth-Century France (Medieval World)

Rating:
Summary: Superb study of Suger's historical importance
Review: The book is well-written and well-documented; Grant has done some revisionary work which the reader might want to check against other historians before deciding whether to accept her comclusions -- I did accept them for the most part.

Rating:
Summary: information yes, style no
Review: The information in this book is interesting and explains alot about Suger and his context. However, the style of the book is excessively chatty--often to the point of being off-putting. It was a struggle to get to the last page.

Rating:
Summary: Abbe Suger the father of Gothic architecture? Grant says no.
Review: This is the most current book on the topic for anyone researching this fascinating subject. Lindy Grant's work dispells many of the Panofskian myths about Abbe Suger as the ideological facilitator of the birth of Gothic architecture at St-Denis with fascinating detail. It is quite readable, and generally entertaining and informative. This is a must-read for any student of Medieval Architecture or History. Despite the work's appeal, it is unpretentiously more of a historical perspective than an art historical one. Someone out there needs to publish one with a more art historical perspective.