The Forge of Christendom: The End of Days and the Epic Rise of the West

A grand narrative history of the re-emergence of Europe following the collapse of the Roman Empire. At the approach of the first millennium, the Christians of Europe did not seem likely candidates for future greatness. Weak, fractured, and hemmed in by hostile nations, they saw no future beyond the widely anticipated Second Coming of Christ. But when the world did not end, the peoples of Western Europe suddenly found themselves with no choice but to begin the heroic task of building a Jerusalem on earth.

In The Forge of Christendom, Tom Holland masterfully describes this remarkable new age, a time of caliphs and Viking sea kings, the spread of castles and the invention of knighthood. It was one of the most significant departure points in history: the emergence of Western Europe as a distinctive and expansionist power.

• In the Shadow of the Sword: The Birth of Islam and the Rise of the Global Arab Empire
• Persian Fire
• Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic
• Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the House of Caesar
• Athelstan (Penguin Monarchs): The Making of England
• The Fall of Carthage: The Punic Wars 265-146BC
• Revolution: The History of England from the Battle of the Boyne to the Battle of Waterloo
• The Crusades: The Authoritative History of the War for the Holy Land
• Conquerors: How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire
• The Storm Before the Storm: The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic