You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.63 AVERAGE
3.63 AVERAGE
The best histories tend to have a solid theme and narrow focus. With Rubicon and Persian Fire Holland captured this technique admirably. With Millennium, he may have bitten off more than he could chew, at least in a mere 400 pages.
The work deals primarily with the centuries prior to the year 1,000 AD, a momentous year by the accounts of this book, filled with foreboding about the loosing of Satan and the Anti-Christ upon the world for the next thousand years, and the solidification of Christianity as the predominant religion in Europe.
Of course, you can't talk about the solidification of Christianity in Europe without mentioning its beginnings during the Roman Empire; and you can't talk about Christianity's spread through Europe without discussing the assimilation of the religion by various barbarian nations; and you can't mention the fractured barbarian nations without addressing their leaders who consolidated them into factions (that in many cases soon fell apart); and you can't talk about these barbarian nations and their Christianity without discussing their relationship with the Pope; and you can't discuss relationships with the Pope without discussing the up-and-down power of the position; and you really, really can't discuss Christianity in Europe in the centuries preceding the millennium without discussing the Saracens and Islam in the Mediterranean...
You get the idea.
Holland has chosen what is absolutely a fascinating subject that few understand well. Of course, his well-chosen and interesting topic suffers for the very reason people don't understand it well--there are simply too many moving parts to mold into a cohesive narrative.
That doesn't stop Holland from trying, though, and it is a noble effort. In the end though, this subject doesn't fit well within Holland's modus operandi of grand, popular themes that can be addressed clearly and succinctly. The sheer volume of information, of rulers coming and going, of shifting borders, of the now-and-again influence of the Byzantine and various Islamic empires, was simply too great a strain in a work of comparatively little girth.
Here Holland's swift yet thorough style becomes problematic as we whisk back and forth between characters, regions, and places in time.
I enjoy Holland's work and I appreciate his ambition, and deep down I liked this book, but the work required separate volumes. Instead Holland tried to squeeze an entire elephant into a single, man-sized pair of pants, and as a result the book is dense and almost bursting at the seems.
The work deals primarily with the centuries prior to the year 1,000 AD, a momentous year by the accounts of this book, filled with foreboding about the loosing of Satan and the Anti-Christ upon the world for the next thousand years, and the solidification of Christianity as the predominant religion in Europe.
Of course, you can't talk about the solidification of Christianity in Europe without mentioning its beginnings during the Roman Empire; and you can't talk about Christianity's spread through Europe without discussing the assimilation of the religion by various barbarian nations; and you can't mention the fractured barbarian nations without addressing their leaders who consolidated them into factions (that in many cases soon fell apart); and you can't talk about these barbarian nations and their Christianity without discussing their relationship with the Pope; and you can't discuss relationships with the Pope without discussing the up-and-down power of the position; and you really, really can't discuss Christianity in Europe in the centuries preceding the millennium without discussing the Saracens and Islam in the Mediterranean...
You get the idea.
Holland has chosen what is absolutely a fascinating subject that few understand well. Of course, his well-chosen and interesting topic suffers for the very reason people don't understand it well--there are simply too many moving parts to mold into a cohesive narrative.
That doesn't stop Holland from trying, though, and it is a noble effort. In the end though, this subject doesn't fit well within Holland's modus operandi of grand, popular themes that can be addressed clearly and succinctly. The sheer volume of information, of rulers coming and going, of shifting borders, of the now-and-again influence of the Byzantine and various Islamic empires, was simply too great a strain in a work of comparatively little girth.
Here Holland's swift yet thorough style becomes problematic as we whisk back and forth between characters, regions, and places in time.
I enjoy Holland's work and I appreciate his ambition, and deep down I liked this book, but the work required separate volumes. Instead Holland tried to squeeze an entire elephant into a single, man-sized pair of pants, and as a result the book is dense and almost bursting at the seems.
I did not enjoy this book, as evidenced by the two stars, and it was only saved by some interesting moments (empress Agnes of Aquitaine, the Frankish kings, the pagan legacy) from being one star. Disorganized, no intro or conclusion, no rhyme of reason that I could see for why it was ordered the way it was, because it was deff not chronological. I also found him making projections into these people that he had no/ thin evidence for, similar to harari in Sapiens. Anyway. At least this book was free.
This book was helpful for understanding the links between Christianity and early Western European empires. style felt like the author was trying to be as superfluous as possible and I got angry at some of the words they threw in - some sentences were sing-songy enough to obfuscate the meaning of what was being said.
informative
fast-paced
Excellent read. One of the most entertainingly written history books that I've read in a while.
challenging
informative
relaxing
challenging
informative
slow-paced
It took me a long time to read because life was heavy, and I also wanted to absorb the book…but this is an absorbing, beautifully written history that demonstrates the author’s gift as a teller of historical stories and bringing light into eras often ignored or misunderstood. I have no expertise with which to make an historical critique of the book, but as a piece of popular, historical non-fiction it’s hugely enjoyable.
As with all of Tom Holland's books, this is a really fast paced, entertaining and informative book.
It covers the century or so around the turn of the first millennium and the events and factors that led to the launch of first crusade
It covers the century or so around the turn of the first millennium and the events and factors that led to the launch of first crusade
Popular, though vivid and generally correct exploration of the 10th and 11th centuries, with guest appearances by Pepin and Charles Martel, Otto I and II, Theophano of Byzantium, assorted Hungarians, Umyyad Caliphs, Gregory V, Sylvester II, Normans and Franks. Holland does have a point--we take Canossa as a given, that church and state are separate in the west, but for 1077, this was a terrifying break with an imperial religion and precursor to all sorts of upset.
Really good, but if I read the word "illumined" one more time I'm going to scream.