A History of the Middle Ages

By: Crane Brinton, John Christopher, Robert Wolff

Narrated by: Charlton Griffin

Length: 19 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

A History of the Middle Ages is the amazing story of European man in transition. It is a dramatic chronicle of 1,000 years of political, social, and economic transformation beginning with the dissolution of the classical Mediterranean civilization and ending with the first flowering of the Renaissance. It is also the story of two new religions, Christianity and Islam, both of which were destined to dominate the mind of every person in those new civilizations arising in their wake. This was the great Age of Faith, a time of darkness and a time of enlightenment...a time of lords and vassals, popes and kings, and commerce and cathedrals.

This great history starts with a survey of Christianity, then continues with an exploration of the "dark ages" following the fall of Rome, before proceeding with an explanation of how Europe coped with, and absorbed, the barbarians who overran the Empire. It goes on to trace the development of feudalism and Islam, and describes the harrowing survival of Byzantium throughout the brutal chaos that swirled about the Eastern Roman Empire during the 9th and 10th centuries. Discover how national monarchies and the modern nation state came into being, how the West responded to the Islamic invasions, and how Christianity penetrated into the farthest reaches of Northern Europe. Understand the dramatic repercussions of the Great Schism in Christianity and how economic change in the West almost destroyed the church. Finally, discover the events which gave rise to the magnificent flowering of the Gothic Age and the explosion of knowledge which subsequently paved the way for the Renaissance. The Middle Ages were the precursor to everything which we in the west consider "modern." This beautifully written history tells you why.

©2004 Audio Connoisseur (P)2004 Audio Connoisseur

History Text Book

This book is good in that it has a lot of information. It turns out that my understanding of the Middle Ages going into the book was fairly shallow. Part of the way through the book, my knowledge is certainly greater.

However, it is very hard to listen to this book. Dates, names and places come flying at you so fast that I doubt I am catching half of what is being said. The reader does a fine job, it is simply that the facts are packed in so densly as to be hard to follow. I feel as though I should listen to the book multiple times in order to get everything. The problem with that solution is that this is the first book to which I have listed that I put aside half way through to listen to something else. I have picked it back up, but doubt I will make it to the end before laying it aside again. I very much enjoy listening to historical books. But listening to this tells me that I do not enjoy listening to text books.

So if you simply want a bunch of history class-like facts, then this book can be great. It has an endless supply. But if you work better with books that tell history is a more-or-less chronilogical, story fashion, then you would probably struggle through this book as much as I have.

Great facts, monotonous

Listening to a sample audio is a good idea, in order to get a taste of the narrator's style. If it doesn't put you to sleep, then you will enjoy the audiobook. The very long introduction is focused on the actual absence of a time period that could be defined as "middle ages". The pace picks up a bit in the following chapters, but I do find that I can take it in small doses only, before I drift off. Much like a university lecture, good but monotonous.

Excellent Survey of Middle Ages

The Middle Ages are so much more varied than most people realize. This overview is an excellent one! No single book can adequately go into the diversity of the societies at conflict during that time, but this one comes very close.

I didn't know much about the Middle Ages

This is an excellent book. It is well written and at times very entertaining.
The origins of modernity are well discussed, ranging from the residue of central European tribes, e.g, Celts and Lombards to the reasons for the differences between Russia and the rest of Europe.
Quite comprehensive and wide ranging discussions. I am stimulated to learn more about this period of history.
I strongly endorse this book. It is especially good for anyone who may have an interest in history and doesn't think they know much about the Middle Ages.

You don't have to "suspend disbelief" in this one!

I was actually glad this was long, I could immerse myself in it. It does take rather long introducing the Roman Catholic Church. The authors felt it necessary, and it is, but it was a lot longer and more detailed than necessary. The actions of the Roman church and the Eastern Orthodox church had an indelible effect on the history that is played out. On the other hand, the Black Plague was skimmed over as little more than a footnote or sidebar. The general facts were given, but the overwhelming numbers lost, how it affected Europe, how it spread and where, were too lightly glossed over. We don't need medical descriptions, but the logistics and the aftermath, the impact is prodigious.
The same with regards to the Hundred Years War. The "why's" are very important to what was going on and affected Europe for centuries. The resulting horrors of brigandage are not covered, in fact they are barely mentioned.

There was excellent and well thought out coverage of events in the northeastern part of Europe and Russia, which was very informative. I found that unusual and very fascinating. Including the conclusions drawn. It really added to the picture of how things are now.

I wish there was a way of always being able to double check what year they are discussing as you can in print. When they have to do a "flashback" you can sometimes get lost.

Good text, terrible sounds

Would you try another book from the authors and/or Charlton Griffin?

No, because Charlton Griffin as the narrator. The sounds of the book are rife with heavy breathing and mouth crackles. A continual barrage of spam parallels the man's speech, a constant reminder of the human biology of a face in action rather than a text for historic concentration.

Would you be willing to try another one of Charlton Griffin’s performances?

Absolutely not.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Yes, because then I could watch a map of Europe with history rather than the wind pipes and nasal passages of a crackly mouth.

Surprisingly good

After buying this I did not read it for some time being put off by the length and the pompous narrative style I had found in a 5 minute preview. Once I tried it I stuck with it (this does not always happen) and learned a lot in this very wide subject.
The book is well structured with good introductions and it is therefore easy to keep up with the overall narrative (not always true with audiobooks if you are driving)

Great HIstory

Where does A History of the Middle Ages rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This is a great read for those wanting to understand modern Europe and western civilization

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

This book is best listened to continuously to be able to integrate all the components of history together

Loved it!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, it was very informative, there was more than just talking and being read to. There was music and other aspects that made it interesting to listen to.

Have you listened to any of Charlton Griffin’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No.

Interesting, but something's very weird here

A wide-ranging discussion of the various political, cultural and economical events in the middle ages in Europe and the Middle East. I found it very interesting, though sometimes a bit repetitive, and not of terribly clear structure. I bought this since I enjoy history, and realized I know very little about the middle ages.

The performance is reasonable, though the narrator seems to emphasize every second word, with a strong, sometimes distracting, British accent.

But, to me, the more interesting part is - what is this book? It doesn't appear to be the audio version of a written book - I could find no such physical book. This is already peculiar.

When was the text written? Throughout the work, time and again there are references to the middle of the 20th century as the modern times, or the present day. This perhaps shouldn't be surprising - if I'm not misidentifying, the person listed as lead author, Crane Brinton, died in 1968. I couldn't find any information about the other two authors, nor any information about how Brinton is connected to this work (it isn't listed on his bibliography).

Even more strangely, the epilogue is written by yet another person - James Westfall Thompson (identified in the book by his full name, so I'm quite certain of this), who died in 1941. That bit of the book contains a bit about how "Noble families fell into the clutches of Jew money-lenders" ... I guess this was a reasonable sentence to write in the 1930s, or whenever.

So - what's going on? It's not necessarily bad if the text is rather old, but this needs to be properly explained. While the middle ages have been studied for a long time, and I'm not doubting mid-20th century historians' knowledge, surely some advances have been made. New archaeological finds, newly found documents, advanced scientific analysis of old samples, and simply new understanding and thought.

I did find a possible source - Crane, Christopher and Wolff wrote a several-volume tome named "A History of Civilization", published in 1960 or earlier by Prentice Hall. Possibly, this audiobook is Volume 1 of that work, or is at least related to it.