This one thousand year history of the civilization of westernEurope has already been recognized in France as a scholarlycontribution of the highest order and as a popular classic. JacquesLe Goff has written a book which will not only be read bygenerations of students and historians, but which will delight andinform all those interested in the history of medieval Europe. Part one, Historical Evolution , is a narrative account of theentire period, from the barbarian settlement of Roman Europe in thefifth, sixth and seventh centuries to the war-torn crises ofChristian Europe in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Part two, Medieval Civilization , is analytical, concerned withthe origins of early medieval ideas of culture and religion, theconstraints of time and space in a pre-industrial world and thereconstruction of the lives and sensibilities of the people duringthis long period. Medieval Civilization combines the narrative anddescriptive power characteristic of Anglo-Saxon scholarship withthe sensitivity and insight of the French historical tradition.… (more)