Customer Reviews

Atlas of Medieval Europe (Cultural Atlas of)

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I have a number of books in the "Cultural Atlas" series and I have to say that this is one of the better ones. It has the usual mix of text, maps and pictorial reproductions common to the volumes in this series, and shares the generally excellent design and production values throughout. It is divided into four main text sections, headed "Disintegration of the Ancient World", "Breaking New Ground", "Fruits of Civilisation" and "Consolidation of the Land". Part Three is the most detailed and interesting. As with others in this series, there are a number of "Special Features", which are really page-long lift-outs on individual topics of interest, such as "The Carolingian Renaissance", "Castles", "Medieval Map-making", etc. This book is really a wealth of information, so you have to decide whether you are going to read it from cover to cover over a few weeks, or whether you are going to "dip in" from time to time. Either way, I found the best plan was to leave it on the coffee table at home and return to it in idle moments. Even though you might leave it on the coffee table to read, make no mistake: this is definitely not a "coffee table" book.