That said, many books that present a bit of difficulty as one reads them are nonetheless rewarding, and I am glad to have read this one. It struck me more as a scholarly text than as a "popular" account of the period.
I suspect that a reader who was better versed in the basic history of medieval Europe would have gotten a good deal more from it than I did. The intense focus on the fine details, region by region and historical period by historical period, did make the book a bit of an effort to wade through. It presents an analysis of the entire medieval period, across all of Europe, with a strong focus on socio-economics. Includes maps and illustrations Read more “Far-ranging, fluent, and thoughtful-of considerable interest to students of history writ large, and not just of Europe.”- Kirkus Reviews, (starred review) He provides illuminating vignettes that underscore how shifting social, economic, and political circumstances affected individual lives and international events-and offers both a new conception of Europe’s medieval period and a provocative revision of exactly how and why the Middle Ages matter. Tracking the entire sweep of the Middle Ages across Europe, Wickham focuses on important changes century by century, including such pivotal crises and moments as the fall of the western Roman Empire, Charlemagne’s reforms, the feudal revolution, the challenge of heresy, the destruction of the Byzantine Empire, the rebuilding of late medieval states, and the appalling devastation of the Black Death. Yet distinguished historian Chris Wickham has taken up the challenge in this landmark book, and he succeeds in producing the most riveting account of medieval Europe in a generation. The millennium between the breakup of the western Roman Empire and the Reformation was a long and hugely transformative period-one not easily chronicled within the scope of a few hundred pages. A spirited history of the changes that transformed Europe during the 1,000-year span of the Middle Ages: “A dazzling race through a complex millennium.”- Publishers Weekly
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