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This is an excellent cultural summary of the long period called "The Dark Ages" in Europe, 400-1600 CE.  Manchester provides many fascinating details as he spins the tale of events, people, nations, religious movements and cultural challenges.

He is able to pack in the details while still moving the story along, making excellent connections between the various facets of the complex story.  He enables the reader to paint a mental picture of the setting and the people in their cultural system of the Europe of the Middle Ages.

Manchester writes in a novelesque, mildly humourous manner, with references to scholars of the periods he portrays.  His focus throughout is to portray the worldview of the peoples of Europe.

He probes for the beliefs and concepts of the world that underlay the amazing ideas and events that puzzle us today.

He shows how the threads of power, profligacy, superstition, exploitation and ignorance flow together in a confusing stream through those centuries till the rediscovery of classical science and philosophy opened up the cultures of Europe to a broader world and approaches to reality.

Those streams finally broke through to result in the modern view of freedom, coordinated concepts of knowledge, and exploration of the physical and conceptual world at large.

See related reviews and articles on this site:
Germanic and Celtic
Germanic Rivalry in Medieval England
Scots, Irish and English
Worldview in the Disciplines

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OBJ

First reading notes written 22 February 2006
Expanded, finalized as an article and posted to Thoughts and Resources 27 December 2007

Orville Boyd Jenkins, Ed.D., Ph.D.
Copyright © 2007 Orville Boyd Jenkins
Permission granted for free download and transmission for personal or educational use.  Other rights reserved.

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