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The Bright Ages
- A New History of Medieval Europe
- Narrated by: Jim Meskimen
- Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins
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Publisher's Summary
"Traveling easily through a thousand years of history, The Bright Ages reminds us society never collapsed when the Roman Empire fell, nor did the modern world did wake civilization from a thousand year hibernation. Thoroughly enjoyable, thoughtful and accessible; a fresh look on an age full of light, color, and illumination." (Mike Duncan, author of Hero of Two Worlds: The Marquis de Lafayette in the Age of Revolution)
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 10 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.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
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What listeners say about The Bright Ages
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Aaron Rapozo
- 12-13-21
Does exactly what it claims to clarify
Laborious and written as if by or for high schoolers. It will age very poorly.
The contemporary snipes and obsession on minutae or strawmen is borderline insufferable.
The narrator is satisfactory.
15 people found this helpful
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- Kenton
- 12-22-21
Brilliant! (See what I did there? 😂)
So this is not the kind of book I would normally jump into, but it was time for a non-fiction and it sounded pretty interesting.
WOW! Very well done. Very readable. Reframes a completely misunderstood era into a far more nuanced and fascinating period. Not a super deep dive into medieval Europe, but more than enough to turn a passing interest into a rewarding appreciation of a time we typically breeze past with so many unfair misconceptions.
13 people found this helpful
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- @gracerector
- 12-31-21
Brilliant, entertaining, careful
Absolutely brilliant. Very well written, careful use of sources with fascinating examples rarely cited in surveys. Love the use of Ravenna and Galla Placidia as a framing device. The last 2 chapters covering the material I know best are breathtakingly brilliant. I don’t think I know of a better discussion of the complexity of medieval urban communal life.
8 people found this helpful
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- Gern
- 06-23-22
Distracted by a misplaced focus on neonazis
Perhaps it is inevitable for a book titled "the bright ages," but the constant looking to the present, I felt, undermined the sense of impartiality I want in a history book. I think this book is too obviously against the far right, and should instead have been content letting the nuance of the past speak for itself. The truth is fully capable of disproving any racist narrative without help.
However, if I could fully trust the history contained as being impartial, I would agree it is interesting and insightful. It would also read faster and smoother without the clunky and unneeded opinions.
7 people found this helpful
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- Julie
- 04-08-22
Nice Historical Timeline
I learned many things I didn’t know, and it’s driving me to other research. The one odd thing is the author ties parallels to mid-evil misunderstanding to modern day white supremacy. Multiple times. But chose to never mention a much more relevant scenario which is Islamic extremism. I’d like to understand that.
7 people found this helpful
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- 11104
- 03-28-22
Bright? Really?
The authors fail to make the case for the premise stated in the title. Sure, there were cultural and intellectual currents that trickled through from the Roman Empire to the Renaissance, but the era they describe was as brutal and greedy as you always thought - you might say like ours, minus the technology. One disappointment is that the book covers the exploits on the nobility, clergy and military, saying very little about the lives of ordinary people.
Something that interested me is that a lot of time in devoted to Louis IX of France, without ever referring to him as St. Louis. He didn't deserve the title, but as a resident of the eponymous city it got my attention.
6 people found this helpful
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- cjstaub
- 05-16-22
A poor argument for a worse conclusion
A collection of anecdotes amounting to little more than "medieval people were people". It's thesis that the "dark ages" weren't "dark" is interesting in concept, but it isn't ever defined what is meant by "dark" or "bright" so it's impossible for the reader to assess the anecdotes it presents in terms of proving or disapproving that thesis, as it seems is intended. This leaves then as just that, a series of disconnected anecdotes that may be interesting in their own right but don't contribute to a larger narrative.
3 people found this helpful
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- Ky
- 01-19-22
Amazing!
So poignant and necessary to our times. This book takes popular myth and toxic ideas and gently shows how they have no basis. Hope.
3 people found this helpful
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- 5804
- 01-13-22
fantastic
This book did an excellent job at revisiting ideas we have about medieval history, examining different perspectives and revealing what the narrative you might have heard was trying to sell you (normally white- suprematism.) I can’t recommend this enough!
3 people found this helpful
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- James
- 05-31-22
Decent history, tortured metaphor
This work contains several meaningful and interesting revisions to popular history. Overall it is a bit of a jumbled mess. The author does not devote effort to forming a chronological nor any other sort of framing mechanism. Somehow the book undoes itself by its breathless repetition of the idea of bright ages and it's incomprehensible overall structure. The age still feel like an opaque disaster.
2 people found this helpful
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- MR TJ PILLINGER
- 03-06-22
Well read, except place names
Book content interesting, if a touch rambling.
Narrator struggled with English place names such as Hartlepool.
1 person found this helpful
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- Mr A G Armstrong
- 02-25-22
Superb history and enlightening
Brilliant take on the "Dark Ages". highly recommended even if mispronouncation of place names
1 person found this helpful
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- willm
- 06-19-22
Brilliant refreshing look at the " dark ages "
I absolutely loved this book and the excellent narration. Please ignore the anti-woke brigade and take the time to form your own opinion. Highly recommended.
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- Eve
- 05-04-22
A Rare Request for Refund From Me
I’ll tolerate a lot of bad narration for a good book and vice versa, but this manages to simultaneously be badly narrated and badly written; derivative while claiming to be original, obsessional and skewed in familiar ways while claiming to present a new point of view. I’ve heard better narration from mid-range text-to-speech software, too.
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- Literary Hawk
- 03-06-22
interesting but narrated badly
I don't recommend this as an audio book because the reading sounded as if it were read by a robot....maybe it was. The content was sometimes interesting and presented from a new angle which was pertinent to our times.
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The Light Ages
- The Surprising Story of Medieval Science
- By: Seb Falk
- Narrated by: Seb Falk
- Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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An illuminating guide to the scientific and technological achievements of the Middle Ages through the life of a crusading astronomer-monk.
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Fascinating exploration of medieval science
- By Celia on 07-05-21
By: Seb Falk
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In Search of the Dark Ages
- By: Michael Wood
- Narrated by: Marston York
- Length: 14 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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In Search of the Dark Ages is an unrivalled exploration of the origins of English identity, and the best-selling book that established Michael Wood as one of Britain's leading historians. Now, on the book's 40th anniversary, this fully revised and expanded edition illuminates further the fascinating and mysterious centuries between the Romans and the Norman Conquest.
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Brilliant!
- By Dee Goulet on 08-31-22
By: Michael Wood
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Ravenna
- Capital of Empire, Crucible of Europe
- By: Judith Herrin
- Narrated by: Phyllida Nash
- Length: 19 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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At the end of the fourth century, as the power of Rome faded and Constantinople became the seat of empire, a new capital city was rising in the West. Here, in Ravenna on the coast of Italy, Arian Goths and Catholic Romans competed to produce an unrivaled concentration of buildings and astonishing mosaics. For three centuries, the city attracted scholars, lawyers, craftsmen, and religious luminaries, becoming a true cultural and political capital.
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Worthy book, stingy production.
- By Stephen Chakwin on 12-13-20
By: Judith Herrin
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Life in a Medieval City
- By: Frances Gies, Joseph Gies
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 6 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Life in a Medieval City is the classic account of the year 1250 in the city of Troyes, in modern-day France. Acclaimed historians Frances and Joseph Gies focus on a high point of medieval civilization - before war and the Black Death ravaged Europe - providing a fascinating window into the sophistication of a period we too often dismiss as backward. Urban life in the Middle Ages revolved around the home, often a mixed-use dwelling for burghers with a store or workshop on the ground floor and living quarters upstairs.
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Troyes, an old town but a new city
- By Darwin8u on 04-02-18
By: Frances Gies, and others
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The Gilded Page
- The Secret Lives of Medieval Manuscripts
- By: Mary Wellesley
- Narrated by: Mary Wellesley
- Length: 9 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Medieval manuscripts can tell us much about power and art, knowledge and beauty. Many have survived because of an author’s status - part of the reason we have so much of Chaucer’s writing, for example, is because he was a London-based government official first and a poet second.
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Not suited for audio
- By Secutor on 05-27-22
By: Mary Wellesley
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Two Houses, Two Kingdoms
- A History of France and England, 1100-1300
- By: Catherine Hanley
- Narrated by: Jennifer M. Dixon
- Length: 15 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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The twelfth and thirteenth centuries were a time of personal monarchy, when the close friendship or petty feuding between kings and queens could determine the course of history. The Capetians of France and the Angevins of England waged war, made peace, and intermarried. In this lively history, Catherine Hanley traces the great clashes, and occasional friendships, of the two dynasties. Along the way, she emphasizes the fascinating and influential women of the houses—including Eleanor of Aquitaine—and shows how personalities and familial bonds shaped the fate of two countries.
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Great book with a bit of slant
- By Ky on 12-20-22
By: Catherine Hanley
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A Brief History of Life in the Middle Ages
- Brief Histories
- By: Martyn Whittock
- Narrated by: John Telfer
- Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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A fascinating new portrait of Medieval Britain that brings together the everyday and the extraordinary. Using wide-ranging evidence, Martyn Whittock shines a light on Britain in the Middle Ages, bringing it vividly to life. Thus we glimpse 11th century rural society through a conversation between a ploughman and his master. The life of Dick Whittington illuminates the rise of the urban elite.
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Really good book
- By Claire on 11-11-18
By: Martyn Whittock
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Medieval Europe
- By: Chris Wickham
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 14 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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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 a single book. 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.
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Wow! Outstanding Work on the Period
- By Dane Maralason on 01-15-19
By: Chris Wickham
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The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England
- A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century
- By: Ian Mortimer
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Imagine you could travel back to the 14th century. What would you see? What would you smell? More to the point, where are you going to stay? And what are you going to eat? Ian Mortimer shows us that the past is not just something to be studied; it is also something to be lived. He sets out to explain what life was like in the most immediate way, through taking you to the Middle Ages. The result is the most astonishing social history book you are ever likely to read: evolutionary in its concept, informative and entertaining in its detail.
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Detailed, Interesting and Entertaining
- By Marc-Andr? on 05-13-10
By: Ian Mortimer