Rating: 
Summary: Reviewers Missed the Mark: a Book Not for General Consumptio
Review: Major Compliments 1. Cantor knows his stuff and I love how the early battle of ideas/philosophies shape the outcomes of history. Example: you can see the origins today's Balkan problem practically from the level of its DNA if you work hard enough at reading his book. Another, the roots of Germanic fascism and the early Christian philosphors.2. His thematic approach helps you focus on the ideas that drove history, but has a tremendous cost, see below. Major Problems with the book: 1. Mr. Cantor is obviously a bright fellow but if teaching people about the subject is the goal, why not focus on that instead of finding arcane words to describe simple events and things? Example: I counted 21 different phases for the papacy, used interchangeably and without signposting. (Reviewer community: can you find more than 21 in his book?) 2. The thematic approach instead of a time or geographically centered extrapolation of the era helps to befuddle the reader. And he doesn't throw you a lifeline by providing context, timelines or reference materials. 3. Its 95% his opinion/point of view. Very little source material is provided. Quotes are almost non-existant until the last few chapters (which seem rather tacked on, probably in the 3rd update). On top of that, humour and irony seem beyond his reach. 4. Where the heck was his editor? How could anyone get something as poorly written as this published without a decent editor. It is most obvious in the final two chapters when, lo and behold, he actually strings together two sentences using the vernacular of the english language and in less than 300 words. Must have written that recently. 5. Ever hear of timelines? Ever see a map (especially for countries and places that have no current day names)? How about a footnote? Surely somewhere in college he heard of footnotes? They help explain arcane ideas and enrich the educational function. 6. He wrote many pages as arguments to his rival scholars. I don't really care to get involved in his debates with other medieval historians over points only a Phd. candidate could love. Conclusion: As a book for educating people, if this is the best of the lot for teaching medieval history, I can see why its a backwater area of study. BUT, if you have the capacity to tough out an academic boot camp of historical survival you will be a better person for it.
Rating: 
Summary: A particular point of view, but excellent overview.....
Review: Norman Cantor is considered an expert on the Middle Ages by his fellow historical professionals. So, when I set out to learn more about this period of history, I soon discovered his two works, "Inventing the Middle Ages" and "Civilizations of the Middle Ages" were required reading. Cantor's two companion books provide an update to the 1963 edition of "Civilizations..." The 1993 "Civilizations..." tells the story of the Middle Ages (c. 500 - c 1500 A.D.), while "Inventing.." it's companion piece provides an historiography of the experts who worked in this field in the 20th Century--according to Cantor. My own bias is that I am a sociologist/demographer (means I understand math) of the Feminist tradition, so I tend have a different perspective. And, because I studied Semiotics, as well as English and French structural anthropology, and had a few Marxists professors along the way, I am aware of how tenuous all our belief systems are.. All that said, you don't have to have a background in history to get something out of this very long and detailed book. You just have to like history and be really fond of reading about the Middle Ages. The book interprets most of the major "events" of the period, and contains both short and long lists of recommended readings in the back. Some of my favorites are missing (where is Braudel??), but you'll discover many of them if you read some of the authors listed. When I'm reading history, I always look for the woman's angle, and buried though it is in this book, Cantor does make reference to some interesting anectdotal material concerning women. For example, he says on page 504, that Fourteenth Century folks lived through a "biomedical holocaust" as well as a severe economic depression (undoubtedly caused by the Bubonic Plague that reached Europe via commercial travelers from the East). As a result, these people turned to and derived comfort from what anthropologists call "magic." They practiced contagious magic (touching relics of saints), penitential magic (went on pilgrimages), consulted with astrologers, and (heaven forfend!!) may have "(illicitly) in some cases used witchcraft." (Women are not mentioned, but they of course were the "witches.") Of course, the female magic of the common folk was not approved of by the newly educated upper class male population who are famous for starting the Reformation and the Renaissance, so they initiated a long period of large scale persecution began. Cantor says, "Theorists and scholars of the younger generation of 1500 fastened on a vision of a reformed church that would be as spiritual unmaterial, and ethical as possible. That such a puritanical church was far removed from demotic culture and the faith and temperament of ordinary people did not seem to bother them......in early sixteenth century Europe, whenever the reformers could gain the support of governmental authorities, they actually carried out their antimagic program, the elimination of what they regarded as the corrupt heritage of the late medieval church." Cantor says people still disagree today the appropriateness of this purge--which was mostly carried out by the new Protestants in England and northern Europe.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Overview of Medieval Issues
Review: Norman Cantor's book is an overview of medieval social issues for the serious student of history. The text is well suited to the intermediate level history scholar who needs to gain a broad perspective, prior to conducting more detailed analysis. The book is long, longer than it need be. At times Mr. Cantor strays from his subject matter with verbose asides. The text can also be rather dry in places. With this said, Mr. Cantor's work more than offsets these weaknesses of style by providing broad content and many excellent insights.
Rating: 
Summary: Very informative
Review: Prof. Cantor's work is not only informative but also easy to read. His insight and commentary are particularly helpful for any student of Medieval Civilization. Prof. Cantor is a realiable source of information and I am pleased to have his book in my collection!
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant and readable
Review: Professor Cantor provides the definitive short history of the Middle Ages. His analysis explains a civilization without crushing the reader with a myriad of esoteric facts. If you want to understand that not-so-distant age, this is the book to buy.
Rating:
Summary: Readability
Review: Simply put this book is easy to read and full of interesting information which is a grand accomplishment considering the type of information being presented. To a history major many books might seem interesting, but this book goes out to average readers and students a like. He combined in depth information and readability.
Rating:
Summary: Great Read, Great Overview
Review: The confusion with all of the different opinions on this classic college introductory European medieval history text are clearly due to the differences in the backgrounds of the various readers.
Cantor has produced a book that is absolutely wonderful in it's ability to pull together the twisted history of both major and minor events throughout Europe and relate them to one another. Being able to understand how Papal politics impacted the Germanic Princes and then caused reactions in England and the Low Countries, which then produced French political events that influenced the Papacy.....great stuff when it can all come together like this!
Cantor can read like an enjoyable novel if you have an active interest in the medieval period, he points out the seeds of feminism and does a good job of placing them in the context of the period, he does the same for heresy, piety and the monastic movements, law and politics, the development of monarchism, the growth of the bourgeoisie, and a host of other factors and elements from the middle ages.
There are valid criticisms of his work though....some of his facts are wrong (some he should have know and others have now had additional historical thought added to them)....for example, the Turks taking Constantinople and the details of the death of Thomas a Becket. More serious to me though is the lack of footnotes (which are so essential to credibility that the readability issues must take second consideration) and the total lack of maps to help with orientations (especially important for those not intimately familiar with medieval European geography).
I've created lists that provide Amazon links to Cantor's top 10 medieval books and top 10 films, if you want to continue to follow the syllabus for medieval understanding that he lays out in the book.
Rating:
Summary: Really deserves a 4.5
Review: The following review WAS NOT posted here, but for another book -- I am not sure why it has been moved here. Please accept my apologies. In the Wake of the Plague is accessible, intelligent, and well worth the read. Cantor connects the plague in a persuasive and understandable manner to key elements in the evolution (and devolution) of civilization, and manages to tie this event -- which cut across all of the lives of the time -- with changes in the economic, social, political, scientific, philosophical, and personal lives of men AND (specifically) women. Why did I short Dr. Cantor a star? Well, histories like this are both thrilling and a little bit of a trap. If you ever had a compelling, intriguing teacher like Dr. Cantor, you can sometimes forget the larger, more contentious world of history surrounding this very persuasive version of events. Being a pedant myself, I wish this awareness -- of other views, of the power of other events -- had been given more weight.
Rating:
Summary: Cantor gets medieval but not ancient society right.
Review: This is a book you should buy if you wish to understand the Middle Ages. But I must tell you that I was very nearly put off it by the author's tragically flawed understanding of Greek and Roman society. Greek and Roman culture are my areas of interest so I do feel I have some basis upon which to offer this critique. The fact that his understanding of ancient society is flawed is rather frightening, because, as Cantor himself says, "...the heritage of the ancient world set the conditions for medieval society." So as I waded further into his book it was with considerable trepidation. If he got Greece and Rome so very, very wrong, how on earth could he get the Middle Ages right? For example, reflect upon this near polemical attack on the Roman educational system (which seems to be to blame for a lot if Cantor is to be believed): "The Romans were psychologically damaged by their educational system, as evidenced by their violence, aggression, sadism, hostility to women, and other unattractive characteristics. Children were treated badly, indeed, and many of them grew up to be sadomasochists." It gets better. He goes on to remark that "...vestiges of this system have lived on into the twentieth century. The educational system of the medieval church was based on the Roman, and there were a good many neurotic educated adults within the medieval church." And what exactly are the characteristics of the Roman educational system that produced this race of monsters? "It is a natural system for an aristocratic society, which needs to train its young people only to accept power handed on to them." The men who taught these benighted children were, and I QUOTE: "often slaves and frequently frustrated, sadistic men." Wow!!! When you read something as novel and outlandish as this, you really want to see some source documentation. But you will be disappointed here. These remarks are not foot-noted and indeed one of the GRAVE failings of this book is that despite the fact Cantor re-edited and updated the entire text, he does not offer foot-notes. Having said that, his bibliography is quite good -- it is organized around a sort of top ten list format. But, curiously, the bibliography is placed AFTER a list of the best movies (!) on the Middle Ages. I suppose like many scholars, he is a "man of his period" so to speak. His understanding of the Middle Ages is fluent and masterful, but his knowledge of the epochs that preceded it scanty and ill founded. Still I find it breath taking that he could be so wrong in places. Having said this, my patience was rewarded. And my reading on the Middle Ages that I undertook as a result of this book have affirmed my faith in Cantor: he does, after all, get most of it right! What was revolutionary about Cantor's book is that, as the jacket says, his was the "first comprehensive general history of the Middle Ages to centre on medieval culture and religion rather than political history." A vital companion to this would be John Julius Norwich's three volume series on Byzantium and Marcia Colish's "Medieval Foundations of the Western Intellectual Tradition 400-1400 (Yale Intellectual History of the West)". Do not, under any circumstances bother with William Manchester's gravely flawed: "A World Lit Only By Fire" (for why I say that, see my review of that book).
Rating:
Summary: Cantor gets medieval but not ancient society right.
Review: This is a book you should buy if you wish to understand the Middle Ages. But I must tell you that I was very nearly put off it by the author's tragically flawed understanding of Greek and Roman society. Greek and Roman culture are my areas of interest so I do feel I have some basis upon which to offer this critique. The fact that his understanding of ancient society is flawed is rather frightening, because, as Cantor himself says, "...the heritage of the ancient world set the conditions for medieval society." So as I waded further into his book it was with considerable trepidation. If he got Greece and Rome so very, very wrong, how on earth could he get the Middle Ages right? For example, reflect upon this near polemical attack on the Roman educational system (which seems to be to blame for a lot if Cantor is to be believed): "The Romans were psychologically damaged by their educational system, as evidenced by their violence, aggression, sadism, hostility to women, and other unattractive characteristics. Children were treated badly, indeed, and many of them grew up to be sadomasochists." It gets better. He goes on to remark that "...vestiges of this system have lived on into the twentieth century. The educational system of the medieval church was based on the Roman, and there were a good many neurotic educated adults within the medieval church." And what exactly are the characteristics of the Roman educational system that produced this race of monsters? "It is a natural system for an aristocratic society, which needs to train its young people only to accept power handed on to them." The men who taught these benighted children were, and I QUOTE: "often slaves and frequently frustrated, sadistic men." Wow!!! When you read something as novel and outlandish as this, you really want to see some source documentation. But you will be disappointed here. These remarks are not foot-noted and indeed one of the GRAVE failings of this book is that despite the fact Cantor re-edited and updated the entire text, he does not offer foot-notes. Having said that, his bibliography is quite good -- it is organized around a sort of top ten list format. But, curiously, the bibliography is placed AFTER a list of the best movies (!) on the Middle Ages. I suppose like many scholars, he is a "man of his period" so to speak. His understanding of the Middle Ages is fluent and masterful, but his knowledge of the epochs that preceded it scanty and ill founded. Still I find it breath taking that he could be so wrong in places. Having said this, my patience was rewarded. And my reading on the Middle Ages that I undertook as a result of this book have affirmed my faith in Cantor: he does, after all, get most of it right! What was revolutionary about Cantor's book is that, as the jacket says, his was the "first comprehensive general history of the Middle Ages to centre on medieval culture and religion rather than political history." A vital companion to this would be John Julius Norwich's three volume series on Byzantium and Marcia Colish's "Medieval Foundations of the Western Intellectual Tradition 400-1400 (Yale Intellectual History of the West)". Do not, under any circumstances bother with William Manchester's gravely flawed: "A World Lit Only By Fire" (for why I say that, see my review of that book).
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