A World Lit Only by Fire

The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance: Portrait of an Age

By: William Manchester

Narrated by: Barrett Whitener

Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

From tales of chivalrous knights to the barbarity of trial by ordeal, no era has been a greater source of awe, horror, and wonder than the Middle Ages. In handsomely crafted prose and with the grace and authority of his extraordinary gift for narrative history, William Manchester leads us from a civilization tottering on the brink of collapse to the grandeur of its rebirth, the Renaissance. The latter was a dense explosion of energy that spawned some of history's greatest poets, philosophers, and painters, as well as some of its most spectacular villains.

Knight time: explore our list of titles about the Middle Ages.

©1979, 1980 William Manchester (P)2007 Blackstone Audio Inc.

Critic reviews

"An absorbing and readable history." (School Library Journal)
"Manchester provides easy access to a fascinating age when our modern mentality was just being born." (Chicago Tribune)
"Manchester has not forgotten the skills that, with invective, eloquence, and anecdote, make him a master storyteller."(Kirkus Reviews)

I feel bad for dinging the performance

I feel bad for dinging the performance, but I tried reading this the old fashioned way first, and was amazed by how much information, and context of that information, was packed into this book, however it was not an exciting read. I fell asleep reading it so many times that I thought I'd try the audible version. Dry text translates to dry reading I suppose. The low rating on the performance is because it was not was I was hoping for out of a reading. The amazing points just did not sound... Amazing. That may require some heavier interpretation on the readers part than the producer was willing to allow, but this book could really use some more oomph in the telling, in my opinion. It's worth the effort to get through it though, if you are interested in the topic.

Accurate and Complete

It's an unfanciful look at medieval society and life. The book doesn't seem to have a specific goal for the reader so just enjoy the ride, and learn something new about an alien society barely reminiscent of our own.

Perfect for the armchair historian

Admittedly a slight work based on second-hand sources. But, one which was subjected to scrutiny through a peer-review process for historical accuracy. It is successful in providing an overview of the relevant historical developments of the area in their proper historical context. For the amateur historian seeking general knowledge of this era, it is a perfect read (or listen). I've enjoyed this book in print (on the bookshelf behind me) and now in audio format.

Thank you Mr. Manchester.

Somewhat entertaining but highly questionable fact

The author does a good job of conveying the utter strangeness and bleakness of the time, but I question the veracity of some of his examples/hypotheses. For instance the myth of the need for spices to disguise rotten meat. This has been debunked and the fact that the author includes it makes me suspicious of his research. It seems to be just a perpetuation of myths with out actually educating a reader about the real middle ages. There are no citations, or at least none given in the audible version, so I suspect that as far as an academically researched book it doesn't quite make it. The performance is a bit dry but that does deliver a deadpan feel that can be quite funny, so the boverall gets a bit of a higher score.

Very interesting book

Strongly suggest it if you're interested in learning about Medieval period. Well read, I was reading it in part because I was joining the SCA and needed to have a better grasp

A unusual approach

History is always difficult to understand.
What happened when. This author managed to put it into perceptive with clear date lines
Spacestationark

the most vivid and evocative portrait of medieval

Huizenga is pretty good too, I wish they had that on audible. Manchester takes the cake though. Narration is competent-to-good. Sean Barrett or Ralph Cosham would have been better.

Highly Informative about Part. of the Story

I found a tremendous amount of important and highly worthwhile information about the Renaissance and I appreciate it. But it misses so much. The great details about the immorality of the Borgias and other Catholic figures was revelled in. However, the reforms by Ignatius Loyola, Philip Neri, Paul III and so. many others are totally ignored. neither do I think there was fair treatment of the Galileo affair.

Enjoyable but not absolutely without error

It took me some effort to reach past the somewhat deadpan tone of the narrator. he did a great job, and I'm glad I gave it the time because the book itself is well done and engaging. my only complaint with the book itself is that it contains a lot of wrong information about Anne Boleyn that is based on conjecture at the time. it's a common mistake but it confirms what the author says at the end in the afterward about his approach to all of this delicious history.

Good read overall

Good read overall but is a bit colloquial. Great for popular history and very readable.