A World Lit Only by Fire - The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance - Portrait
of an Age by William Manchester

It speaks to the failure of medieval Europe, writes popular historian William
Manchester, that "in the year 1500, after a thousand years of neglect, the roads
built by the Romans were still the best on the continent." European powers were
so absorbed in destroying each other and in suppressing peasant revolts and
religious reform that they never quite got around to realizing the possibilities
of contemporary innovations in public health, civil engineering, and other
peaceful pursuits. Instead, they waged war in faraway lands, created and lost
fortunes, and squandered millions of lives. For all the wastefulness of medieval
societies, however, Manchester notes, the era created the foundation for the
extraordinary creative explosion of the Renaissance. Drawing on a cast of
characters numbering in the hundreds, Manchester does a solid job of
reconstructing the medieval world, although some scholars may disagree with
his interpretations.

Download File Size:7.99 MB

---