Updated with a new foreword by Tom Hanks: acclaimed historian William Manchester A World Lit Only by Fire is a “captivating and marvelously vivid” popular history of the Middle Ages (Publishers Weekly). From tales of chivalrous knights to the barbarity of the Inquisition and the misery of the Black Death, no era has been a greater source of awe, horror, and wonder than the Middle Ages. In graceful prose, and with the authority of his extraordinary gift for narrative history, William Manchester leads us from a civilization teetering on the brink of collapse to the grandeur of its rebirth during the Renaissance, a dense explosion of energy that spawned some of history’s greatest poets, philosophers, painters, adventurers, and reformers, as well as some of its most spectacular villains. The result is an unforgettable journey into the medieval mind, as Manchester ingeniously re-creates the lives of ordinary people and offers vivid portraits of the era’s most astonishing figures, such as Galileo, Machiavelli, Anne Boleyn, and Ferdinand Magellan. “Manchester provides easy access to a fascinating age when our modern mentality was just being born.” –Chicago Tribune

Features

• Medieval
• Renaissance

The preeminent popular history of civilization’s rebirth after the Dark Ages From tales of chivalrous knights to the barbarity of trial by ordeal, no era has been a greater source of awe, horror, and wonder than the Middle Ages. In handsomely crafted prose and with the grace and authority of his extraordinary gift for narrative history, William Manchester leads us from a civilization tottering on the brink of collapse to the grandeur of its rebirth, the Renaissance, a dense explosion of energy that spawned some of history’s greatest poets, philosophers, and painters, as well as some of its most spectacular villains. One of the most volatile periods of western history witnessed the passing of the Dark Ages and the dawning of the Renaissance, illuminated by magnificent scientific and artistic achievements and spectacular leaps of thought and imagination. Manchester’s narrative weaves together extraordinary figures, varied elements, and accomplishments of the period.