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Ian Mortimer
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Medieval Horizons: Why the Middle Ages Matter Paperback – March 12, 2024

by Ian Mortimer (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 129 ratings
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The essential introduction to the Middle Ages by the bestselling author of The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England

We tend to think of the Middle Ages as a dark, backward and unchanging time characterised by violence, ignorance and superstition. By contrast we believe progress arose from science and technological innovation, and that inventions of recent centuries created the modern world.

We couldn't be more wrong. As Ian Mortimer shows in this fascinating book, people's horizons - their knowledge, experience and understanding of the world - expanded dramatically. Life was utterly transformed between 1000 and 1600, marking the transition from a warrior-led society to that of Shakespeare.

Just as The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England revealed what it was like to live in the fourteenth century, Medieval Horizons provides the perfect primer to the era as a whole. It outlines the enormous cultural changes that took place - from literacy to living standards, inequality and even the developing sense of self - thereby correcting misconceptions and presenting the period as a revolutionary age of fundamental importance in the development of the Western world.
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  1. Print length
    254 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    March 12, 2024
  4. Dimensions
    5.25 x 1 x 8 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    079530109X
  6. ISBN-13
    978-0795301094
  7. See all details
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ RosettaBooks (March 12, 2024)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 254 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 079530109X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0795301094
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.4 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.25 x 1 x 8 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 129 ratings

About the author

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Ian Mortimer

Ian Mortimer
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Dr Ian Mortimer has been described by The Times newspaper as 'the most remarkable medieval historian of our time'. He is best known as the author of The Time Traveller's Guides: to Medieval England (2008); to Elizabethan England (2012); to Restoration Britain (2017); and to Regency Britain (2020). He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and has published research in academic journals touching on every century from the twelfth to the twentieth.

He also writes in other genres. His latest novel, 'The Outcasts of Time', which takes place across the years 1348-1942, won the 2019 Winston Graham Prize for historical fiction. His first three novels, the Clarenceux Trilogy, set in the 1560s, appeared under his middle names, 'James Forrester'. In the year he turned fifty he wrote a memoir about the meaning of running, Why Running Matters (published in 2019).

He lives on the northeast of Dartmoor, in the southwest of England. For more information, see www.ianmortimer.com

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
129 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

A M
5.0 out of 5 stars Fun to read and learn
Reviewed in the United States on March 15, 2024
Verified Purchase
Why is learning history important and interesting? One answer (among several others) is that history explains how we have arrived at the current situation. This book is an excellent example of this view. It points to processes during the Middle Ages that are relevant to explaining some of the situations in our time. The book is full of surprising data and is fun to read.
One person found this helpful
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Brenda S. Sutton
5.0 out of 5 stars Made me think
Reviewed in the United States on June 23, 2023
Verified Purchase
I loved this author's previous works. This is a much more academic examination of the huge changes that occured during the Middles, specifically between the 11th and 17th centuries, and how it still impacts our modern lives. I'll be chewing on these thoughts for some time. Well worth the effort.
3 people found this helpful
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Elizabeth
5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable Read
Reviewed in the United States on August 31, 2023
Verified Purchase
Mortimer writes in a way that keeps you interested. I’ve really enjoyed this book.
2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Mr. R. Marsden
5.0 out of 5 stars a different perspective on the Middle Ages
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 10, 2024
Verified Purchase
Highly informative and well-written book on why we should look at the Middle Ages through different eyes. The author utterly rejects the generally held view that “medieval” equates to “backward”, “ignorant” or intrinsically brutal. Indeed, he gives well researched reasons and clearly articulated arguments for the opposite perspective.

I found this book highly readable and very enjoyable. It isn’t particularly for students of the era, or for students of history generally, but for anyone who wants to know more about the human condition and how (or why) we live and behave as we do today.
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Alexandra
5.0 out of 5 stars Hochinteressant
Reviewed in Germany on March 11, 2024
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Immer hatten wir gelernt, dass das Mittelalter eine zutiefst statische und langweilige Periode sei. Nun aber kommt der herausragende englische Mittelalterforscher Mortimer und belehrt uns eines Besseren. Nicht nur inhaltlich ist das äußerst interessant, nein, wie so oft bei englischen Historikern, es ist auch noch witzig und unterhaltsam geschrieben.
Sehr lohnend!
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Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Incredibly interesting and readable!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 15, 2024
Verified Purchase
Honestly, this book didn’t look terribly interesting, from the cover all the blurb. But it was by Ian Mortimer and I loved his time traveller series of history books, so I thought I’d give it a try. I’m really glad I did. It is incredibly interesting and incredibly readable. Really makes you take a fresh look at history and get a deeper understanding and makes it fun too!
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Anna
5.0 out of 5 stars Informative, accessible and entertaining -what more would you want?
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 8, 2023
Verified Purchase
I bought Ian Mortimer’s Medieval Horizons and devoured it in less than two days (will obviously need to re-read to take everything in properly, but I was enjoying myself too much to slow down.)
I don’t personally know Ian but I reached out to him recently to ask for recommended reading to flesh out a historical piece I was writing… He gave me some great recommendations, but apparently was too modest to mention his own book, so I’ll do it for him!
Medieval Horizons does a great job of showcasing how changes that happened in the centuries between 1000 and 1600 AD have shaped how we live and think today. It’s as well-researched as you’d expect (I’m looking at the bibliography for further reading… When I get a new obsession it hits hard!) but it’s very easy and enjoyable to read, even as someone who knows very little about the subject. In addition to giving the reader a very well-rounded image of the changes and development during the whole period it deals with, I was able to go to work with my highlighters and make a very quick and efficient visual referral of the information I was originally looking for (yellow: time period I’m focusing on pink: things that happened just after, for reference blue: thoughts that are generically useful to me green: this is interesting, look it up more)
Sorry not sorry for defacing the book, I will have to buy another copy, and if you have any interest in Medieval times, so should you!
24 people found this helpful
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Rf And Tm Walters
5.0 out of 5 stars A Fresh Look at Medieval Times
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 10, 2024
Verified Purchase
This is a very good book. It is a concise summary of why the Middle Ages are an important part of our history which we would do well to learn from. Well written.
3 people found this helpful
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