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The Bright Ages
The Bright Ages: A New History of Medieval Europe | Matthew Gabriele, David M. Perry
5 posts | 3 read | 1 to read
"The beauty and levity that Perry and Gabriele have captured in this book are what I think will help it to become a standard text for general audiences for years to come….The Bright Ages is a rare thing—a nuanced historical work that almost anyone can enjoy reading.”—Slate "Incandescent and ultimately intoxicating." —The Boston Globe A lively and magisterial popular history that refutes common misperceptions of the European Middle Ages, showing the beauty and communion that flourished alongside the dark brutality—a brilliant reflection of humanity itself. The word “medieval” conjures images of the “Dark Ages”—centuries of ignorance, superstition, stasis, savagery, and poor hygiene. But the myth of darkness obscures the truth; this was a remarkable period in human history. The Bright Ages recasts the European Middle Ages for what it was, capturing this 1,000-year era in all its complexity and fundamental humanity, bringing to light both its beauty and its horrors. The Bright Ages takes us through ten centuries and crisscrosses Europe and the Mediterranean, Asia and Africa, revisiting familiar people and events with new light cast upon them. We look with fresh eyes on the Fall of Rome, Charlemagne, the Vikings, the Crusades, and the Black Death, but also to the multi-religious experience of Iberia, the rise of Byzantium, and the genius of Hildegard and the power of queens. We begin under a blanket of golden stars constructed by an empress with Germanic, Roman, Spanish, Byzantine, and Christian bloodlines and end nearly 1,000 years later with the poet Dante—inspired by that same twinkling celestial canopy—writing an epic saga of heaven and hell that endures as a masterpiece of literature today. The Bright Ages reminds us just how permeable our manmade borders have always been and of what possible worlds the past has always made available to us. The Middle Ages may have been a world “lit only by fire” but it was one whose torches illuminated the magnificent rose windows of cathedrals, even as they stoked the pyres of accused heretics. The Bright Ages contains an 8-page color insert.
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DyAnne
The Bright Ages: A New History of Medieval Europe | Matthew Gabriele, David M. Perry
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Celebrated Independent Bookstore Day at Bloomsbury Books in Ashland, OR. We are traveling, so only one book.

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Augustdana
The Bright Ages: A New History of Medieval Europe | Matthew Gabriele, David M. Perry
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I‘ve been on the biggest reading slump this past month, and today it‘s dull and rainy and I‘m gonna finish this.

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Augustdana
The Bright Ages: A New History of Medieval Europe | Matthew Gabriele, David M. Perry
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Reading this very accessible history while in the bath is definitely self care.

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melissanorr
The Bright Ages: A New History of Medieval Europe | Matthew Gabriele, David M. Perry
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Did not do a good job of holds management as both these came in while I already have three other books checked out!

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stevesbookstuf1
The Bright Ages: A New History of Medieval Europe | Matthew Gabriele, David M. Perry
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Pickpick

This book covers the history of Europe from the mid 400s to the early 1300s through a modern understanding that does away with the darkness of the “Dark Ages“.

Seventeen chapters, each focusing on a different time & place to illuminate different topics. Conversational tone (not a dry history at all) aimed at those not conversant in medieval history.

Overall an interesting & well written overview.

Full review here: https://tinyurl.com/2hhn75vh