A World Lit Only by Fire cover art

A World Lit Only by Fire

The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance: Portrait of an Age

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A World Lit Only by Fire

By: William Manchester
Narrated by: Barrett Whitener
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About this listen

 From tales of chivalrous knights to the barbarity of trial by ordeal, no era has been a greater source of awe, horror, and wonder than the Middle Ages. In handsomely crafted prose and with the grace and authority of his extraordinary gift for narrative history, William Manchester leads us from a civilization tottering on the brink of collapse to the grandeur of its rebirth, the Renaissance. The latter was a dense explosion of energy that spawned some of history's greatest poets, philosophers, and painters, as well as some of its most spectacular villains.Knight time: explore our list of titles about the Middle Ages.©1979, 1980 William Manchester (P)2007 Blackstone Audio Inc. Europe Expeditions & Discoveries Medieval Renaissance World Middle Ages Royalty Imperialism Italy

Critic Reviews

"An absorbing and readable history." (School Library Journal)
"Manchester provides easy access to a fascinating age when our modern mentality was just being born." (Chicago Tribune)
"Manchester has not forgotten the skills that, with invective, eloquence, and anecdote, make him a master storyteller."(Kirkus Reviews)
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I found the narrator's voice dismissive and supercilious- I didn't enjoy that.
I enjoyed the story although it wasn't what I expected. There was no mention of the development of different lighting - apart from fires - which I expected from the title. It was more like a history of the Dark Ages and the Renaissance - which is fine but it seemed to me that the emphasis was often uneven - the detail on Luther and Magellan seemed to make the whole narrative uneven.

I didn't like the narrator.

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A fascinating synthesis of major and minor historical events, skilfully woven together with top-notch story craft.
The narrator handled the quotes skillfully and was easy to listen to.

Epic storytelling

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Highly recommended for medieval history lovers. Good narrator and thoroughly researched down to fine details.

Absolutely loved this book!

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Absolutely a fun listen if you are after an interesting overview of history. The prose is deliciously written. Where it went off the rails for me is where the author consciously decides to take printed gossip regarding an historic figure as fact, on the basis that it was recorded. In the case of,say, the Borgia family, much of what has come down to us are the crazy rumours. The more scandalous a rumour the likelier someone would have recorded it. I think as an introduction to broad ideas it's fun, but take it with a grain of salt and listen to a few other books on the subject.

Engaging narrator, excellent prose but slightly dodgy on historical fact.

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Couldn't get very far into this text before the Christianity-bashing became too noisome. Judging the past by the standards of today doesn't make for very good historiography.

Christianity-bashing bias

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