A World of Our Own

What a book about the Middle Ages can teach us about our current era.

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“Most of what is known about the [Middle Ages] is unlovely. After the extant fragments have been fitted together, the portrait which emerges is a mélange of incessant warfare, corruption, lawlessness, obsession with strange myths, and an almost impenetrable mindlessness.”—William Manchester, A World Lit Only By Fire: The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance: Portrait of an Age, 1992.

I often find books to be companions for periods of my life; volumes that console or delight me in difficult seasons, inspire me to be a better version of myself, and, sometimes, point me in the right direction.

For the past year or so, that book has been William Manchester’s A World Lit Only By Fire.

Manchester, a newspaperman turned author and professor, wrote two of the most popular and acclaimed military biographies of all time: American Caesar, about Douglas MacArthur, and The Last Lion, about Winston Churchill. Manchester was erudite and, as the three volumes and about 3,000 pages of his Churchill work suggest, very thorough. But he always managed to retain the punchy, pugnacious style he learned when he was working with H.L. Mencken at The Baltimore Sun. 

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  1. Avatar photo
    Pastorfbt

    On your recommendation I'm plowing through this book and WM is clearly no friend of the early Lutherans or Reformed. Honestly I don't recognize the caricatured portrayal of, say, John Calvin.
    That said, it's a rollicking read, even if the author has clearly been liberal in supplying minor details.

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    Charlie Sattgast

    Your mileage may vary, but I went to Amazon to look at A World Lit Only By Fire and discovered that the Audible version was included in my Prime account at no charge. I've downloaded it, started listening, and didn't even have to spend an Audible credit.

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    Brian

    Looking forward to reading this book. Next, you really should start another Dispatch pod where you and your sons debate history and faith.

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  4. Ben Bobbitt

    Almost finished with Manchester’s Churchill trilogy. That’s taken me the better part of 20 years, so I’m not sure I have the time remaining to go into his other works : )

    Something about those who don’t know history comes to mind when I consider the fall of the Roman Empire. Also something about going bankrupt, slowly and then suddenly.

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  5. Ted Schroder

    Thank you for bringing my attention to this book. I will read it. I read Goodbye Darkness many years ago and found it enthralling. I wish I had overheard your conversation with your sons! I hope you found my Stott book edifying. Best wishes.

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  6. Michael H Moore

    I can always count on you for valuable perspective—not just political but historical too! Kudos to your sons for the assist.

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    Fluffdaddy

    Well, that just got added to my reading list.

    Thank you.

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    Fighting Armadillo

    I loved Manchester’s book, filled with deep insights and impeccable writing. If you would like another book that picks up the story where “World Lit Only By Fire” ended, I highly recommend Jacques Barzun’s “From Dawn to Decadence — 500 Years of Western Cultural Life.” The two books could not be more different in style, but while Barzun’s book is much longer, it is very approachable and his prose is very good. He does a masterful job exploring how the ideas of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment play out over half a millennium, ending around the year 2000 (which was shortly before Barzun died). He, too, felt we were coming to the end of an age, a time when old ideas had played themselves out, but new ideas had not yet emerged to replace them. It’s a fascinating read.

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  9. Rebecca Wiese

    I have been reading "A Secular Age" (Taylor) since 2018. I found it in a university library in Malta, and was taken by the history. It opened my eyes and in return, I downloaded an electronic copy. This essay convinces me that I must return to those pages and my next deep dive may just be A World Lit Only by Fire, despite the disparate reviews.

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    Pboyd

    After witnessing first hand the horrible after effects of long term school closures on our children and other pandemic restrictions, I've been wondering how people handled the aftermath of the plague. Will read this. Thank you.

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