A fine account of a distant era that still echoes today.
Jones returns with another sweeping history of the medieval world.
Having penned books about specific elements of his specialty (Crusaders, Magna Carta, The Templars), the author chronicles the 1,000-year story of the Middle Ages. His latest is a doorstop but never less than absorbing. In traditional histories, the Middle Ages extend from the fifth century to the 14th century. Jones extends it to the 1527 sack of Rome; he makes a solid case that the end did not occur until the Protestant Reformation shattered the Catholic Church. In the first 70 pages, the author describes the Roman Empire’s painful decline and abdication of the last Western emperor, whose successor referred to himself as the king of Italy but declared a symbolic obeisance to another Roman emperor, this one in Constantinople. Jones reminds readers that this “Eastern” emperor ruled the Balkans, today’s Turkey, and the Middle East and attempted, with temporary success, to win back lands in Western Europe and North Africa lost to “barbarians.” This Byzantine Empire considered itself Roman and, although vastly shrunken by Islamic conquests in the seventh century, remained in power for a millennium until the Turks conquered Constantinople in 1453. The author delivers long essays on the early years of European nationhood, the rise of monasteries, knighthood, feudalism, and the Crusades. Less familiar is the catastrophic 13th-century Mongol invasion of Europe, followed by a commercial revolution, the rise of a merchant class, trade, scholarship, transoceanic exploration, and technology such as printing, which ultimately weakened the power of the Catholic Church by encouraging the rise of secular society. Despite a nod to contemporary interpretation (climate change and slavery receive much attention), this is traditional great-men-and-events history, but Jones writes a lively narrative, freely expressing doubts when it’s not clear what actually happened.
A fine account of a distant era that still echoes today.Pub Date: Oct. 26, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-984880-87-1
Page Count: 656
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Aug. 24, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2021
The Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist (1900–45) collected his work from WWII in two bestselling volumes, this second published in 1944, a year before Pyle was killed by a sniper’s bullet on Okinawa. In his fine introduction to this new edition, G. Kurt Piehler (History/Univ. of Tennessee at Knoxville) celebrates Pyle’s “dense, descriptive style” and his unusual feel for the quotidian GI experience—a personal and human side to war left out of reporting on generals and their strategies. Though Piehler’s reminder about wartime censorship seems beside the point, his biographical context—Pyle was escaping a troubled marriage—is valuable. Kirkus, at the time, noted the hoopla over Pyle (Pulitzer, hugely popular syndicated column, BOMC hype) and decided it was all worth it: “the book doesn’t let the reader down.” Pyle, of course, captures “the human qualities” of men in combat, but he also provides “an extraordinary sense of the scope of the European war fronts, the variety of services involved, the men and their officers.” Despite Piehler’s current argument that Pyle ignored much of the war (particularly the seamier stuff), Kirkus in 1944 marveled at how much he was able to cover. Back then, we thought, “here’s a book that needs no selling.” Nowadays, a firm push might be needed to renew interest in this classic of modern journalism.
Pub Date: April 26, 2001
ISBN: 0-8032-8768-2
Page Count: 513
Publisher: Univ. of Nebraska
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2001
A rousing, suspenseful adventure tale.
A harrowing expedition to Antarctica, recounted by Departures senior features editor Sancton, who has reported from every continent on the planet.
On Aug. 16, 1897, the steam whaler Belgica set off from Belgium with young Adrien de Gerlache as commandant. Thus begins Sancton’s riveting history of exploration, ingenuity, and survival. The commandant’s inexperienced, often unruly crew, half non-Belgian, included scientists, a rookie engineer, and first mate Roald Amundsen, who would later become a celebrated polar explorer. After loading a half ton of explosive tonite, the ship set sail with 23 crew members and two cats. In Rio de Janeiro, they were joined by Dr. Frederick Cook, a young, shameless huckster who had accompanied Robert Peary as a surgeon and ethnologist on an expedition to northern Greenland. In Punta Arenas, four seamen were removed for insubordination, and rats snuck onboard. In Tierra del Fuego, the ship ran aground for a while. Sancton evokes a calm anxiety as he chronicles the ship’s journey south. On Jan. 19, 1898, near the South Shetland Islands, the crew spotted the first icebergs. Rough waves swept someone overboard. Days later, they saw Antarctica in the distance. Glory was “finally within reach.” The author describes the discovery and naming of new lands and the work of the scientists gathering specimens. The ship continued through a perilous, ice-littered sea, as the commandant was anxious to reach a record-setting latitude. On March 6, the Belgica became icebound. The crew did everything they could to prepare for a dark, below-freezing winter, but they were wracked with despair, suffering headaches, insomnia, dizziness, and later, madness—all vividly capture by Sancton. The sun returned on July 22, and by March 1899, they were able to escape the ice. With a cast of intriguing characters and drama galore, this history reads like fiction and will thrill fans of Endurance and In the Kingdom of Ice.
A rousing, suspenseful adventure tale.Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-984824-33-2
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Jan. 29, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2021
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