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| A Short History of the Middle Ages
Paperback
Author: Barbara H. Rosenwein
Publisher: UTP Higher Education
Release Date: 2001-10
ISBN-10: 1551112906
ISBN-13: 9781551112909
List Price: $39.95
Average Customer Rating:
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Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com
A Short History of the Middle Ages is a succinct narrative overview of the shape of Medieval History from c. 300 to c. 1500. Each chapter integrates the culture, politics, and social issues of a chronological "slice" of time, covering the key events, ideas, people, and transformations. Incorporating the research advances of the last decades, Rosenwein places Europe in the context of the Byzantine, Mongol, and Ottoman empires and of the Islamic world; the histories of women, Jews, and heretics are all important parts of this story, and the eras rich artistic heritage of the period is incorporated into the text as visual evidence of broader trends.
A Very Pedestrian, Mediocre Read
| Customer Rating: | | Barbara Rosenwein's book on the Middle Ages provides a very diluted overview of the Middle Ages. Although she does provide some good information and good coverage of areas involved in the Middle Ages, the book is written in a very pedestrian way...I would not recommend it for someone who wants an advanced resource on the middle ages. The book includes a lot of great pictures, but it seems to get bogged down in its effort to provide its readers with a pictorial record which then affects the focus on the written history. I am not opposed to a historian publishing a book of pictures (to an extent, written and pictorial histories should be separate entities), but this book tries to do too much with the written and pictorial history. Overall, a good resource for a middle school class on medieval history, but for advanced study this book lacks depth. |
A very good introductory medieval text
| Customer Rating: | This is a wonderful introductory medieval text. No introductory text can be all things to all people, but this one is still remarkable in its ability to address the most pressing issues. If Amazon allowed half stars I might have gone with 4 1/2 instead of 5, but it is closer to 5 stars than 4. The things that Rosenwein does VERY well include:
1) Chapter one is background on the Classical/Roman era to give students some perspective on the origin of the Middle Ages.
2) Inclusion of cultures beyond Western Europe is a huge plus. There is adequate coverage of events in Byzantium, the Islamic World, and later, of the Ottomans.
3) Includes excellent discussion of the art of the times. This includes the excellent, full page, high quality color pictures of relevent art and architecture.
4) A quality book overall. The maps are also often in full color, with a few in black in white.
5) A very readable academic style. The edge between being "unacademic" and being so scholarly as to be unaccessable is a fine one. Rosenwein sticks to it very well, seldom falling to either side.
There are, of course, areas of interest where I wish that she would go into more detail, but as other reviewers and commenters have noted, this IS an intro text, designed to be "short" and also it is aimed at the average undergrad who may not have a strong background in history. Professors constantly struggle with finding good quality books that students will actually read! A good professor will be able to adequately augment in the places where more depth is needed.
Overall, I would highly recommend this book for the classroom, and for anyone who is interested in a broad view of 1200 years of history, this is an enjoyable introduction, although if military/political history of only Western Europe (France, England, Germany, Italy) is your only interest, this may not be the book for you. |
Mediocre
| Customer Rating: | | Rosenwein does a good job displaying appropriate pictures, discussing the right time frame, and incorporating Eastern Europe and the Ottoman empire into typical Western European history. However, many details are left out while discussing kings and battles. Much is said about the thriving arts, and a great selection of paintings and works from the medieval period have been chosen for this text. However, None of the chapters flow easily, and jump from the west to the east, from the thriving univeristy concept to what is seldom said about popes at this time. Important information is discussed with limited detail. Large text and frequent large pictures take up much room in the text which could be used for more text. At time the reading level strays from middle school to college and back. It should have been expanded and edited by more collegues/scholars. |
Great introduction to medieval history in the West
| Customer Rating: | This is a great introduction to medieval history in Europe and the Near East. Rosenwein starts with the fall of the Roman Empire and takes us all the way to the start of the high middle ages. Along the way we get the meat of the dark ages - one of the most interesting periods in my book. This book is very short for such breadth. The pace is incredibly rapid yet the book never feels rushed. The brevity is an asset - the book is easy and quick to read. It actually lives in our bathroom (!) Yet the tone is scholarly and even handed.
There some very good content here. Focus is evenly split amongst Byzantine Greek, Islamic Arabia, North Africa & Al Andalus, and Europe. The most powerful insight Rosenwein gives us in that all these disparate cultures are the descendants of ancient Rome - each in their own unique but related ways. There are timelines and family trees with successions of kings. These listings are not comprehensive, but give you a good taste. The book is beautifully illustrated. This isn't the meal - but rather an exquisite appetizer. Recommended. |
Beautifully illustrated, wonderfully concise, grating tone
| Customer Rating: | | This book is written to provide an brief introduction to medieval Europe. It accomplishes its intent very well in giving a skeletal structure, providing context for highlights from around 300-1500 AD (or CE for those who think that this era is common enough for all). As well as Western Europe, a fair amount of attention is given to Byzantium and to the Islamic lands. Besides the narrative, the book is filled with charts, maps and color prints that should delight the novice and the serious student alike. However, there are a few things that force me to deduct stars from the rating. While the choice of topics for the narrative is good, I find the narrative itself somewhat annoying. There seems to be a certain sarcasm underlying much of the writing. I don't mind histories that try to keep an element of humor. But for this book, just after the first few pages it felt like the author does not respect the medieval culture and religion enough to try to seriously understand it. Flippant and dismissive remarks, particularly concerning religion unfortunately cast a shadow on credibility. Now don't get me wrong, this is a nice little book: valuable for its maps, illustrations, bare-bones presentation of facts -- the survey it intends to be. I just wish the author struck a more balanced tone in the commentary. |
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