A World Lit Only by Fire

May 31, 1993
Manchester's marvelously vivid popular history humanizes the tumultuous span from the Dark Ages to the Renaissance. A one-week PW bestseller in cloth. Illustrations.

April 27, 1992
Using only secondary sources, Manchester plunges readers into the medieval mind-set in a captivating, marvelously vivid popular history that humanizes the tumultuous span from the Dark Ages to the dawn of the Renaissance. He delineates an age when invisible spirits infested the air, when tolerance was seen as treachery and ``a mafia of profane popes desecrated Christianity.'' Besides re-creating the arduous lives of ordinary people, the Wesleyan professor of history peoples his tapestry with such figures as Leonardo, Machiavelli, Lucrezia Borgia, Erasmus, Luther, Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. Manchester ( The Arms of Krupp ) devotes much attention to Magellan, whose globe-straddling voyage shattered Christendom's implicit belief in Europe as the center of the universe. His portrayal of the Middle Ages as a time when the strong and the shrewd flourished, while the imaginative, the cerebral and the unfortunate suffered, rings true. Illustrations.

Manchester writes compellingly readable history which is as popular on audio as it is in print. This title, about Ferdinand Magellan's place at the beginning of the Renaissance, is currently on Books On Tape's best-seller list. Manchester's mix of interesting anecdotes, insightful observation and direct writing style speaks directly to his audience. With appropriate pauses, comfortable delivery and almost conversational inflections, Gardner brings life to the text in a manner that complements Manchester's writing. The result, both esthetically pleasing and intellectually challenging, will be enjoyed by many. S.K. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine