Name: The civilization of the Middle Ages
ISBN: 9780060925536

The civilization of the Middle Ages

In 1963, Norman F. Cantor published his breakthrough narrative history of the Middle Ages. Further editions of this immediately celebrated book appeared in 1968 and 1974. Now, a thorough revision, update and significant expansion of the book has been made with a third of the text new. The Civilization of the Middle Ages incorporates current research, recent trends in interpretation, and novel perspectives, especially on the foundations of the Middle Ages to A.D. 450 and the Later Middle Ages of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, as well as a sharper focus in social history, Jewish history, and women's roles in society, and popular religion and heresy. While the first and last sections of the book are almost entirely new and many additions have been incorporated in the intervening sections, Cantor has retained the powerful narrative flow that made the earlier editions so accessible and exciting. Cantor's book was innovative in 1963 because it was the first comprehensive general history of the Middle Ages to center on medieval culture and religion rather than political history (which was, however, dealt with, but from the perspective of applied intellect and social ordering). It remains a unique book in that regard. The book also featured the highlighting of prominent medieval personalities through dozens of biographical sketches, which has been retained.

What Hacker News says

christudorNov 2025

Looking for some ideas for Christmas...

Mine were: – Caro's The Power Broker – Koestler's Sleepwalkers – Lewis's The Discarded Image – Massie's Dreadnought – Packenham's Boer War – Rose's Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes – Cantor's Civilization of the Middle Ages.

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jrumbutMar 2021

I can recommend Norman Cantor's Civilization of the Middle Ages for a really great review of the different views of what happened during and after the deterioration of the Western Roman Empire. They range from "a time of violence and backwardness" to "a lot of people may not have noticed." It's really a great book overall and easier to read than you might expect.

He also wrote Inventing the Middle Ages which sounds like it might be more focused on your question but I haven't read it so I don't know.

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tjradcliffeApr 2015

Fiction: Nicholas Nickleby (Dickens). Dickens' prose is like a sugared donut. Rich and enjoyable in small bites, cloying as a steady diet, so this is heavily interspersed with other reading.

Non-Fiction:

Global Crisis (http://www.amazon.com/Global-Crisis-Climate-Catastrophe-Seve...) Excellent history of the climate disaster known as "the Little Ice", and the social, political and economic disruptions it produced. Due to where the records are best, lots of stuff from China, some from Japan, and various parts of Europe (particularly England) but it takes a genuinely global perspective on a decades-long event that may have reduced the human population of Earth by as much as 1/3. Data rich and extremely well-written, it gives some insight into how humans are apt to respond and adapt in the face of climate change (the first generation or two is not pretty, but new institutions, attitudes and adaptations do come along.)

Loneliness (http://www.amazon.com/Loneliness-Human-Nature-Social-Connect...) Recent science on the effects of social connection and the lack thereof, by one of the premier researchers in the field. Highly recommended for people who are feeling out of the loop (I work at home and recently changed cities, and recognized I was lacking a bit in human contact even for someone who is very comfortable on their own.)

The Civilization of the Middle Ages, Norman Cantor: a somewhat dated by still useful account of medieval civilization, from it's Roman roots to the early Renaissance.

Other recommendation: http://www.amazon.com/Darwins-Theorem-TJ-Radcliffe/dp/099375... Speculative fiction with big ideas (the nature of god, the role of science, the universality of evolution) and character-driven action (I am the author, so take the recommendation for what you will.)

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