A History of the Middle Ages

By: Crane Brinton, John Christopher, Robert Wolff

Narrated by: Charlton Griffin

Length: 19 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

A History of the Middle Ages is the amazing story of European man in transition. It is a dramatic chronicle of 1,000 years of political, social, and economic transformation beginning with the dissolution of the classical Mediterranean civilization and ending with the first flowering of the Renaissance. It is also the story of two new religions, Christianity and Islam, both of which were destined to dominate the mind of every person in those new civilizations arising in their wake. This was the great Age of Faith, a time of darkness and a time of enlightenment...a time of lords and vassals, popes and kings, and commerce and cathedrals.

This great history starts with a survey of Christianity, then continues with an exploration of the "dark ages" following the fall of Rome, before proceeding with an explanation of how Europe coped with, and absorbed, the barbarians who overran the Empire. It goes on to trace the development of feudalism and Islam, and describes the harrowing survival of Byzantium throughout the brutal chaos that swirled about the Eastern Roman Empire during the 9th and 10th centuries. Discover how national monarchies and the modern nation state came into being, how the West responded to the Islamic invasions, and how Christianity penetrated into the farthest reaches of Northern Europe. Understand the dramatic repercussions of the Great Schism in Christianity and how economic change in the West almost destroyed the church. Finally, discover the events which gave rise to the magnificent flowering of the Gothic Age and the explosion of knowledge which subsequently paved the way for the Renaissance. The Middle Ages were the precursor to everything which we in the west consider "modern." This beautifully written history tells you why.

©2004 Audio Connoisseur (P)2004 Audio Connoisseur

Deeply researched history of the Middle Ages

What three words best describe Charlton Griffin’s performance?

Cliche history teacher (in the best possible way)

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Some sections of this audio book I found very dull others were hugely exciting. It's history. The dull parts set the scene for the fantastic layers of multiple kingdoms over many centuries. This audio book is a marathon. I don't think I would of made it through the first hundred pages of the physical book but I listened to this for weeks and continue to revisit it.

Good book spoiled by bad narration

This is a good general survey, well organized and efficiently written. But the narration is awful—laughably fake pompous “British” accent with weirdly mannered pronunciations. Really annoying!

More a review of christianity in the middle ages.

This really is a somewhat disappointing diatribe on the middle ages, written for an American audience (and it tends to concentrate on explanations and rationalizations to support the world view of that audience) with a rationalization of the legitimacy of Christianity and its consequent effects on the world around it. It is almost an apologists view of the Catholic church, glossing over some of its very worst attributes and effects. The section on Jesus the man is dated and almost unbearably derivative, not history as such but a repeat of orthodox church teachings about Jesus the man.
Beyond the first section which concerns itself singly with the church, the history does become more interesting in a general sense. As a frank discussion about day to day life in the period between 500 and 1500ad it’s sadly lacking, more a compendium of dates and what happened, who begat who and which king tupped which queen and begat which royal brat and their effect on history.
This is history 101 straight out of an English prep school without any of the life a decent teacher of history always imparts. Disappointing but not without merit.

I love to hear about the "middle ages"!

This really is my very favorite narrator. I love the way he speaks to you as though he were sitting across from you and telling a story. This book is definitely a new take on the "middle ages". I like the way the author approaches the subject. I highly recommend!

Interesting but nothing new was presented

Would you listen to A History of the Middle Ages again? Why?

I probably would not. I did not find the information about the Middle Ages I had hoped to find. Basically I got a rehash of my college textbook.

Would you recommend A History of the Middle Ages to your friends? Why or why not?

I would recommend it to anyone who wants a refresher of what they learned in European History in undergraduate school.

What about Charlton Griffin’s performance did you like?

He read it with feeling, humor and authority.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Neither laughed nor cried

Any additional comments?

None

On second thoughts...

I've now listened to part two - and think I was a bit harsh. There's a LOT here. And while some is opaque or longwinded, I'd challenge anyone not to come away without better understanding of the times that formed us, and a new perspective on the times we live in. Not perfect, but considering it's scope, well worth purchasing.

Surprisingly good

After buying this I did not read it for some time being put off by the length and the pompous narrative style I had found in a 5 minute preview. Once I tried it I stuck with it (this does not always happen) and learned a lot in this very wide subject.
The book is well structured with good introductions and it is therefore easy to keep up with the overall narrative (not always true with audiobooks if you are driving)

Great HIstory

Where does A History of the Middle Ages rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This is a great read for those wanting to understand modern Europe and western civilization

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

This book is best listened to continuously to be able to integrate all the components of history together

Loved it!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, it was very informative, there was more than just talking and being read to. There was music and other aspects that made it interesting to listen to.

Have you listened to any of Charlton Griffin’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No.

Interesting, but something's very weird here

A wide-ranging discussion of the various political, cultural and economical events in the middle ages in Europe and the Middle East. I found it very interesting, though sometimes a bit repetitive, and not of terribly clear structure. I bought this since I enjoy history, and realized I know very little about the middle ages.

The performance is reasonable, though the narrator seems to emphasize every second word, with a strong, sometimes distracting, British accent.

But, to me, the more interesting part is - what is this book? It doesn't appear to be the audio version of a written book - I could find no such physical book. This is already peculiar.

When was the text written? Throughout the work, time and again there are references to the middle of the 20th century as the modern times, or the present day. This perhaps shouldn't be surprising - if I'm not misidentifying, the person listed as lead author, Crane Brinton, died in 1968. I couldn't find any information about the other two authors, nor any information about how Brinton is connected to this work (it isn't listed on his bibliography).

Even more strangely, the epilogue is written by yet another person - James Westfall Thompson (identified in the book by his full name, so I'm quite certain of this), who died in 1941. That bit of the book contains a bit about how "Noble families fell into the clutches of Jew money-lenders" ... I guess this was a reasonable sentence to write in the 1930s, or whenever.

So - what's going on? It's not necessarily bad if the text is rather old, but this needs to be properly explained. While the middle ages have been studied for a long time, and I'm not doubting mid-20th century historians' knowledge, surely some advances have been made. New archaeological finds, newly found documents, advanced scientific analysis of old samples, and simply new understanding and thought.

I did find a possible source - Crane, Christopher and Wolff wrote a several-volume tome named "A History of Civilization", published in 1960 or earlier by Prentice Hall. Possibly, this audiobook is Volume 1 of that work, or is at least related to it.