Modern Scholar - Odyssey Of The West III

The Modern Scholar - Odyssey Of The West III (3) The Medieval World by Timothy B. Shutt


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I listened to this audiobook thinking it was part III of the earlier series on the Middle Ages and essentially, it covered the same period and added a great deal to my understanding of the Era. Shunt covers the period by examining great books like The Confessions of St. Augustine, The City of God, Beowulf and The Poetic Edda, The Divine Comedy, and others. It included the authors, St. Thomas Aquinas, Marie de France, Chrétien de Troyes, and Dante.

I found this lecture to be fascinating and it was very interesting to put these authors into the Medieval lectures of Thomas Madden which I read previously. Dr. Shutt's enthusiasm for the subject is infectious and made the series even more enjoyable.

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The Modern Scholar: The Medieval World, Part II: Society, Economy, and Culture

The Modern Scholar: The Medieval World, Part II: Society, Economy, and Culture by Thomas Madden


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This lecture was the second in the series and covered the economic and social history of the Middle Ages, filling in and explaining the gaps in Part 1. I found it to be just as interesting as the first series of lectures and again found the roots of a number of present customs as well as cultural conflicts between nations that are still influencing events today.

This series traces the development of the Christian/Roman Catholic Church during the Middle Ages as there were very few aspects of history which were not intertwined with religion. For some reason, most of the histories I studied in high school and college seem to imply that after the Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity the church was essentially the same as we know today, with the exception of the Protestant Reformation which came near the end of the Middle Ages. It was very interesting to learn how the cannon evolved and how the church and state developed over the approximately 1,000 years called the Middle Ages. I found this series to be as fascinating as the first.

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The Modern Scholar: The Medieval World I: Kingdoms, Empires, and War

The Modern Scholar: The Medieval World I: Kingdoms, Empires, and War by Thomas F. Madden


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
While I had to listen to sections of this book more than once, it was very good. I studied World History in High School and college, but I wish I had had a course like this. Madden is a great teacher and he wove together the events of what we used to call the "dark ages" in a way that made a lot of sense and explained a number of things that I have never been too clear on.

Since this class took in about 1,000 years of history, there was a lot left out, but the series has several courses which cover other aspects. It was interesting to note the pattern of civilization rose and fell. As a people became more cultured and prosperous, they seemed to lose discipline and military strength leaving them open to conquest by a more primitive society. The conquering society them absorbed a great deal from the former and after prospering
followed the same pattern. The course also covered the religious history of Europe, which was essentially the civil history also. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand world events today as many of the present customs and conflicts are based in this early history.

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