A World Lit Only by Fire
The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance: Portrait of an Age
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A World Lit Only by Fire
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Narrated by:
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Barrett Whitener
About this listen
Critic Reviews
"An absorbing and readable history." (School Library Journal)
"Manchester provides easy access to a fascinating age when our modern mentality was just being born." (Chicago Tribune)
"Manchester has not forgotten the skills that, with invective, eloquence, and anecdote, make him a master storyteller."(Kirkus Reviews)
What listeners say about A World Lit Only by Fire
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Cathy thompson
- 13-07-2023
I didn't like the narrator.
I found the narrator's voice dismissive and supercilious- I didn't enjoy that.
I enjoyed the story although it wasn't what I expected. There was no mention of the development of different lighting - apart from fires - which I expected from the title. It was more like a history of the Dark Ages and the Renaissance - which is fine but it seemed to me that the emphasis was often uneven - the detail on Luther and Magellan seemed to make the whole narrative uneven.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Sarah Green
- 03-12-2022
Epic storytelling
A fascinating synthesis of major and minor historical events, skilfully woven together with top-notch story craft.
The narrator handled the quotes skillfully and was easy to listen to.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Miss Amy V
- 06-04-2016
Absolutely loved this book!
Highly recommended for medieval history lovers. Good narrator and thoroughly researched down to fine details.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Rachel
- 12-06-2018
Engaging narrator, excellent prose but slightly dodgy on historical fact.
Absolutely a fun listen if you are after an interesting overview of history. The prose is deliciously written. Where it went off the rails for me is where the author consciously decides to take printed gossip regarding an historic figure as fact, on the basis that it was recorded. In the case of,say, the Borgia family, much of what has come down to us are the crazy rumours. The more scandalous a rumour the likelier someone would have recorded it. I think as an introduction to broad ideas it's fun, but take it with a grain of salt and listen to a few other books on the subject.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Stacey
- 20-02-2022
Christianity-bashing bias
Couldn't get very far into this text before the Christianity-bashing became too noisome. Judging the past by the standards of today doesn't make for very good historiography.
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