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| Mysteries of the Middle Ages: The Rise of Feminism, Science, and Art from the Cults of Catholic Europe | 
 enlarge | Author: Thomas Cahill
Publisher: Nan A. Talese
Category: Book
List Price: $32.50
Buy Used: $6.86
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Avg. Customer Rating:  46 reviews
Sales Rank: 72135
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 368
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.6
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.5 x 1.4
ISBN: 0385495552
Dewey Decimal Number: 909.07
EAN: 9780385495554
ASIN: 0385495552
Publication Date: October 24, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
After the long period of cultural decline known as the Dark Ages, Europe experienced a rebirth of scholarship, art, literature, philosophy, and science and began to develop a vision of Western society that remains at the heart of Western civilization today.
By placing the image of the Virgin Mary at the center of their churches and their lives, medieval people exalted womanhood to a level unknown in any previous society. For the first time, men began to treat women with dignity and women took up professions that had always been closed to them.
The communion bread, believed to be the body of Jesus, encouraged the formulation of new questions in philosophy: Could reality be so fluid that one substance could be transformed into another? Could ordinary bread become a holy reality? Could mud become gold, as the alchemists believed? These new questions pushed the minds of medieval thinkers toward what would become modern science.
Artists began to ask themselves similar questions. How can we depict human anatomy so that it looks real to the viewer? How can we depict motion in a composition that never moves? How can two dimensions appear to be three? Medieval artists (and writers, too) invented the Western tradition of realism.
On visits to the great cities of Europe—monumental Rome; the intellectually explosive Paris of Peter Abelard and Thomas Aquinas; the hotbed of scientific study that was Oxford; and the incomparable Florence of Dante and Giotto—Cahill brilliantly captures the spirit of experimentation, the colorful pageantry, and the passionate pursuit of knowledge that built the foundations for the modern world. Bursting with stunning four-color art, MYSTERIES OF THE MIDDLE AGES is the ultimate Christmas gift book.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 41 more reviews...
 Historical Detours May 18, 2008
I enjoyed Cahill's previous works immensely. This one is also good, taking the reader on a journey with several figures of the middle ages. THe effects of these individuals are laid out and integrated into the tale, sometimes in the languages they spoke, such as latin.
I would have appreciated more text, less illustrations, and a more cohesive structure. Similarly, Cahill injects some current politics which only serves to distract from the historical revelations.
Still a good read and a revealing text.
 Answer to ancient questions April 30, 2008
Thomas Cahill went to a heck of a lot of research to be able to put together centuries of history and facts and stories to get such an organized telling of what was really happening during those dark times. Along with watching 'Da Vinci Code', I started asking myself questions, and several answers were provided while listening to Cahill's soothing voice. I really enjoyed this audio CD, and anyone interested in history that doesn't come from college books or the TV, it is a fresh, sensible approach to how we got to be where we are, and get a glimpse of where we are going. Bravo Tom!
Slight Disappointment.... February 23, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I adore Thomas Cahill's other books in the Hinges of History series and I was looking forward to another great read. Unfortunately this book failed to meet the standard set by his previous work. I realise that this is Cahill's book, but his digressions serve no purpose and ruin the flow of information. Issues in present-day America, Iraq, etc, may have root in the middle ages but they have no place in even a semi-scholarly book which purports to be about the middle ages. I was sorely disappointed and I can only hope his next endeavor will be just as good as this one should have been.
Fun But Flawed December 31, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Thomas Cahill's pop histories can usually be counted on to be provocative and entertaining. There isn't one that I haven't had a good time reading even though I may have disagreed with many of his opinions. His most recent book "Mysteries of the Middle Ages", however, is damaged goods on a number of fronts. As other readers have pointed out, it turns unexpectedly into an anti-Catholic rant at times, which can be a bit off-putting and betrays an anachronistic bias that leads the reader far away from understanding the medieval period on its own terms. Cahill, for example, detests the crusading movement, which he terms that aspect of medieval Christianity that would have been most visible to Europeans of that time. In fact, few Europeans would have ever seen a crusader and would have been infinitely more familiar with the Catholic Church as the provider of the social safety net, education and beauty, not to mention the guarantor of the soul's safety in the afterlife. The book is full of little but easily-avoided errors: Anjou is sometimes referred to as a county (which it was in the 12th century) and sometimes as a duchy (which it was not until much later). Gothic architecture is mysteriously described as "Norman", though the Normans had nothing to do with its invention and had their own style of building. Much more valuable are his treatment of two remarkable women, Hidegarde von Bingen and Eleanor of Aquitaine, and Francis of Assisi.
 Schizo read....... December 27, 2007
10 out of 13 found this review helpful
I've only gotten to page 39 of this book, and already my interest is waning. So, thinking it was just me, I decided to read some reviews and see what others thought. Other readers have already expressed themselves quite eloquently as to why this book was just plain bad, and I agree. I just kept thinking, "what is this dude on????"
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