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Manchester's excellent work endeavors to make a modern reader understand the medieval person, the world they lived in, their psychology, their daily life, their fears and concerns. He expertly details the differences between our modern world and theirs by doing a case study of a couple of specific periods, then moving the work into the Italian Renaissance to show the reader how incredibly shocking everything that happened in the 'exploration age' was.
He devotes the last third of his book to his fascination with Ferdinand Magellan, which wasn't exactly what I wanted, but it was still insightful, interesting, and educational. You could do fine not reading that section if you wanted a shorter read more specific to the medieval period, since the sheer length and detail of his Magellan section makes the rest of the book feel oddly like his long, detailed prologue intended to set the stage for how interesting he finds this one historical character.... who is not a likable character at all. I'm sorry, Manchester, I'm just not into conquistadors. ( )

This is a pretty good book, but at best it's a distillation of portions of Arial (and William) Durants multi-volume work 'The History of Civilization'.
Dated stuff -- but still, good. I especially liked the stuff on the Borgia popes. ( )

My initial foray into William Manchester's writings (he apparently authored 17 books prior to this one) was the unfortunately titled A World Lit Only by Fire: The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance: Portrait of an Age. Many of the books I read are found in the bibliographies of other books, but I believe I stumbled upon this one on Amazon and, like a candy bar at the drug store, it became an impulse purchase. I have an interest in medieval European history, as well as intellectual history more broadly, and the title sounded promising.
The title itself comes from a quote on page 199: 'In that age the world was still lit only by fire.' That literal fact held much in terms of metaphorical promise. But strangely, as Manchester states outright in a preliminary 'Author's Note' (which some readers may skip), the book itself began as an introduction to a friend's biography of Magellan, and Manchester wanted to provide some context, in a dozen pages or so. Of course there is no mention of this in the title, and if one doesn't read the Author's Note beforehand, one is riding along with an interesting overview of the medieval period until the subject turns to Magellan. The final chapter ('One Man Alone') is devoted to Magellan's search for a route to the Spice Islands, through the straits that now bear his name, ending in the Philippines.
It is all very interesting, though a bit disjointed. The book's cover says 'National Bestseller,' and that may indeed have been so (it was first published in 1992). But this book could have been so much better--at the very least hung with a more apropos title. To be fair, Manchester asserts that his book is 'a slight work, with no scholarly pretensions' (xiii). With that pretext in mind, the book is an enjoyable enough read; hence four stars, with the rating buttressed by the necessarily read Author's Note. A succinct chronology and solid bibliography provide bookends for the text. ( )

Interesting but disappointing. Although, the Medieval Mind is an excellent portend for the 1632 series. Great quote from the Magellan section; 'His character was, of course, imperfect. But heroes need not be admirable, and indeed most have not been. The web of driving traits behind their accomplishments almost assures that. Men who do the remarkable — heroic and otherwise — frequently fail in their personal relationships. This unpleasant reality is usually glossed over in burnishing the image of the great.” Compliments of bread2u. ( )

This book was very different than expected based on the title.
I expected to find:
* Candles were expensive
* Tallow, vs paraffin vs other kinds of wax
* Oil lamps vs candles
* Who could afford artificial light and and who couldn’t
* How much artificial light was used
* What was used instead of artificial light
* How we got away from artificial light
* What life was like when artificial light was expensive.
The only one one that I found any hint of an answer to was the last one, and that only within the first 28 pages.
What I did find — not much, there were only three entries in the Table of Contents
* The Medieval Mind p. 1-28
* The Shattering: p. 29-220
* One Man Alone p. 221-292
The Medieval Mind section/chapter covered what a miserable short life the commoners lived.
The Shattering section/chapter described at length the debauchery of the church and royalty. After a dozen pages I got the point that at the highest levels sexual immorality and killing of opponents were rampant. It continued along that same line until finally getting to Luther and other reformers who although not sexually promiscuous, often preferred to kill their opponents. It goes on and on, but it’s the same story of self-centeredness and intolerance repeated over and over.
The last section is about Ferdinand Magellan and is probably the most interesting section. It concludes with some cogent comments about heroes and heroism. Here is a little bit. The conclusion was intriguing.
“Similarly, the soldier who throws himself on a live grenade, surrendering his life to save his comrades, may be aware the medal of honor. Nevertheless, his deed, bering impulsive is actually unheroic ... Heroism is the exact opposite — always deliberate, never mindless.” (Page 287)
“… it is difficult to find another figure whose heroism matches Magellan’s” (Page 288-289)
* Inviting charges of treason
* Unseaworthy ships
* Attempted sabotage against his expedition
* His hodgepodge crews couldn’t even communicate in the same tongue
* The background of the captains assigned to him almost guaranteed mutiny and treachery, which indeed followed
* Unable to confide in anyone else
* He persevered in his search for the strait
* It was his fortitude, his inflexible will which fueled morale and stamina
* His discovery of the Philippines dwarfed his original goal
“His character was, of course, imperfect. But heroes need not be admirable, and indeed most have not been. The web of driving traits behind their accomplishments almost assures that. Men who do the remarkable — heroic and otherwise — frequently fail in their personal relationships. This unpleasant reality is usually glossed over in burnishing the image of the great.” (Page 289)
( )

Great companion book to assist me in historical background for reading Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall series; the last chapters on Magellan's circumnavigation of the globe was particularly riveting. ( )

Awesome, I couldn't stop, went through it in a couple of days.
It's just awesome and then it floors you with the story of Ferdinand Magellan. ( )

What a terrible book. I don't know who or how the man who wrote this even claims to be a historian. This volume is a great example and/why people hate reading history. The bias tone is so overt and blatant that it smells. It is quite obvious that Manchester is talking out of his rear and has no clue about facts. Writers like this hurt good historians like, Asbridge, Jones, Bauer and others who dedicate their lives to history. The second half of the book is much better. The chapters on Luther are chaotic and at that point in the book you don't know if or how much smoke the writer is blowing up your rear. The last chapter regarding Magellan is exciting and heartbreaking at the same time. The book gets better after the first part but I think it, as all history, should be taken with a grain of salt. No historical perspective should be taken at face value.
Asbridge, Jones and Bauer are highly recommended writers in regards to History. They crush anything this writer has done. Asbridge is great for the Crusades, Jones is simply unstoppable in regards to general English History, and Bauer is probably the most well rounded historian I have ever read. Her three part series on the history of the world is ASTOUNDING and so much fun to read. ( )

I stopped reading this at about the 1/2 mark. The book is is written in the vein of what I call 'Publisher's Books', ie. it's written for scandal, tantalization, the sudden shock with little regard to how well these one liners actually represent the era. I stopped and went to look at other reviews ( the book was in my library's digital collection and I picked it up as it might be interesting).
I am setting this book aside. I don't think I will finish it.
This review and comments reflect my own thoughts.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4090326?book_show_action=true&from_rev...
I've read a number of books about the middle ages in the past couple of years, any are better than this and all are well received and praised.
Here is a short list of title I highly recommend
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13546411-the-time-traveler-s-guide-to-mediev...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/568236.A_Distant_Mirror
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2062351.The_Early_Middle_Ages
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2203560.The_High_Middle_Ages
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4893641-the-late-middle-ages
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10954979-the-swerve
( )

This history book is a fast and easy read, but I noticed some problems with it. One, the author states that he did no primary research- he didn’t do any digging into old manuscripts from monasteries, or find letters from 500 years ago. He *did*, however, bring a lot of it together into an engaging and accessible book. But there are more problems.
He shows only the bad side of the Middle Ages; in fact, he disparages it in some odd ways. One of his statements is “In the Medieval mind, there was no conception of time”- really? The monasteries certainly kept good calendars, the peasants knew when to plant for their crops to ripen in time, they knew how long it took for babies to be born, and when the saint’s special days were. No, they did not have clocks other than sundials or water clocks, but they certainly knew about the passage of time. He just about calls the people who lived in the medieval era a bunch of idiots that didn’t learn a thing for a thousand years. It’s true; the world was grim and brutal in those days, but it was not without learning.
He gets more enthusiastic when the Renaissance bursts on the scene and people start making long exploratory voyages- the entire back third of the book is about Magellan. He is also enthusiastic about the blossoming of protests against the Catholic Church- he delights in telling tales about Pope Alexander VI’s sexual antics and the selling of offices (he doesn’t have one good thing to say about the Catholic Church).
While I enjoyed the book, the fact that I found untruths in it made me wonder how many other untruths he was writing that I’m not enough of a history buff to catch. I means I cannot really trust anything he writes in this book. To explain the whole Medieval period and the beginnings of the Renaissance is a huge chore; even if he did the research he should have done, it would have been really difficult to explain it all in three hundred pages. I give it two stars, because it kept me entertained. ( )

Controversial, yes, but (or maybe even 'thus'?) lots of useful background for translating fiction set in the Middle Ages.

Manchester's overview of world history in the Medieval and Renaissance eras is eminently readable. ( )

The subtitle of this book, The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance, focuses attention on a point that often strikes my when I read tales of human history. People of the past weren't like us. They didn't think how we think. They didn't see themselves or the universe around them as we do. They seemed to lack humanity. Frankly, they seem nuts. In many ways their world was one that was ruled, if not predominately populated by, psychopaths. Between blood lust, selfish ambition, and religious fervor (often in deadly combination), I sometimes wonder how our species survived. In this book, the author focuses on a few historical events that helped change our medieval minds into ones that I like to think are a bit more human. ( )

This book may be a fun read, but it is very outdated and inaccurate history. Universities with low academic standards will love this one. All historical research done in the last 100 years is ignored. The factual flaws in the first chapter alone were enough to make me check to see if it was fiction.
This book should be used as the BAD example when contrasting nonfiction books. I could not finish as it is an insult to real history. Point me to the nearest bonfire, please! ( )

This book covers a vast territory, the medieval world, the renaissance, the reformation, the age of exploration, too broad perhaps, but still enjoyable as all William Manchester books are. I particularly enjoyed his tale of Magellan's voyage. ( )

This was an engagingly written book, and a very fast read. However, it suffered from a number of issues.
For one, it was too fast, and seemed to hop-scotch around; for instance, the last chapter on Magellan seems to just be tacked on. It seems that half of the the book before the Magellan chapter is bracket with 'Durant says, '; Manchester obviously relied very heavily on this one source.
Then, there are logical 'errors.' I put 'errors' in quotes because I am not an expert in Medieval history or the lives of the various figures, but there are a number of places where Manchester will, over the course of a few sentences or a paragraph, say something like, 'Commonly, A is labeled as B; but this is not true because C ... Now, certainly A was B, and so...' This may be his writing style, but I found it distracting and it has left me wondering about the veracity of what I read. Consulting Wikipedia, I see that in fact the book did spark controversy for its supposed errors and invalid conclusions, and that it was out of date. Going back to what I noticed, the book was published in 1992 but references very heavily books written between the 1930's and the 1960's (the Durants' series), which presumably itself was based on research from decades earlier...
Sigh.
Reading this very well may have been a waste of time. Check out From 'Dawn to Decadence' or 'The Civilization of the Middle Ages' The are both longer, but also both very good reads; and I trust them more. ( )

I look forward to listening to this audiobook again in the future. Manchester was a good story teller, but one that may be closer to historical fiction at times. ( )

I love the title of this book because the title alone starts your imagination to work picturing what life was really like in the Middle Ages. A very entertaining read. ( )

Unaware of the controversies over Manchester's scholarship (or lack thereof) on the middle ages, because I don't usually read this genre, I bought this book (2014 edition) for the beautiful cover, maps, and color illustrations.

My first introduction to William Manchester's writing was his biography of Winston Churchill. I had read volimes 1 & 2 of Manchester's biography on Churchill and came across this book while waiting for the third and final Churchill volume to be published. Manchester writes history like a novelist, not dully. P.S., Unfortunately Manchester died before he wrote volume 3 to close out his Churchill biography. Nevertheless, reading only volumes 1 & 2 are worth the time ... just as 'A Wrold Lit Only by Fire.' ( )

36. A World Lit Only By Fire : The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance, Portrait of an Age (Audio) by William Manchester, read by Barrett Whitener and Carrington MacDuffie (1992, 11:36, ~320 pages in paperback, listened Mar 30-April 9, June 7-8)
Rating: 2 stars
Manchester tells us the the early 16th century is not his specialty, that he had written up a short book on Magellan's voyage, then he wanted to put that in a background context of the times. It would have been nice if he had told us that up front instead of in the afterword.
What comes out has little to do with the title or subtitle. While it jumps around in time quite a bit, thereby actually touching most to the Middle Ages time period, it spends most of its time in the early 16th century. Over and over he reminds us how corrupt the Papacy was, then jumps to lengthy sections on Cesare & Lucretia Borgia, Martin Luther, finally Magellan's voyage. The reader is left wondering what context this should be read in and how it all ties together...until the afterword.
Perhaps Manchester's books on Churchill* are lightning, but this one is nothing special.
*He is the author of The Last Lion, a two volume biography of Winston Churchill.
2015
https://www.librarything.com/topic/191940#5203558( )

Only got a short way into this book. The bias, inaccuracies and narrow focus put me off. I gather from other reviews that it is not well regarded by many historians.

I had wanted to read this book for years. It's about the Middle Ages! And with such a beautiful title! Had heard reviews saying there are factual errors, but with a time so long gone and so little recorded (I mean, it is called the Dark Ages, after all), you'd have to expect some disagreement. In exchange for a good overview of the era, I'd call it worthwhile.
I gave up on page 12-13: 'In an attempt to link Easter with the Passion, it was scheduled on Passover... The decision had no historical validity, but neither did the event...' I've never heard any definition of Easter that did not include the Passion of Christ (nor does Manchester elaborate on this hypothetical event), and since all four gospels say this coincided with Passover, the scheduling seems much more slam-dunk than scheming.
Also, page 11 'The crafty but benevolent pagan gods - whose caprice and intransigence existed only in the imagination of Christian theologians'. How did Manchester read Homer without seeing gods behaving capriciously and intransigently?
More importantly, how could someone so totally ignorant of either the ancient traditions that preceded it, or the modern Christian tradition which succeeded it, ever hope to write a book about the Middle Ages and the Renaissance that came between, especially without taking a very scholarly approach to it? ( )

It is useful as a compendium of every stereotype you can think of about the Middle Ages, most of them wrong ( )

A great narrative of the 16th century in Europe ( )

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