Mysteries of the Middle Ages: And the Beginning of the Modern World (The Hinges of History)

From the bestselling author of How the Irish Saved Civilization, a fascinating look at how medieval thinkers created the origins of modern intellectual movements.

After the long period of decline known as the Dark Ages, medieval 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, from the entry of women into professions that had long been closed to them to the early investigations into alchemy that would form the basis of experimental science. 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-acclaimed historian Thomas Cahill brilliantly captures the spirit of experimentation, the colorful pageantry, and the passionate pursuit of knowledge that built the foundations for the modern world.

• Heretics and Heroes: How Renaissance Artists and Reformation Priests Created Our World (The Hinges of History)
• The Gifts of the Jews: How a Tribe of Desert Nomads Changed the Way Everyone Thinks and Feels (The Hinges of History)
• Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter (The Hinges of History)
• Desire of the Everlasting Hills: The World Before and After Jesus (The Hinges of History)
• How the Irish Saved Civilization: The Untold Story of Ireland's Heroic Role From the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe (The Hinges of History)
• Mysteries of the Middle Ages: The Rise of Feminism, Science, and Art from the Cults of Catholic Europe (Hinges of History)
• Heretics and Heroes: How Renaissance Artists and Reformation Priests Created Our World (Hinges of History)
• Many Europes: Volume I to 1715: Choice and Chance in Western Civilization
• Jesus' Little Instruction Book: His Words to Your Heart
• Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter (Hinges of History)