About the Author

Norman F. Cantor was Emeritus Professor of History, Sociology, and Comparative Literature at New York University. His many books include In the Wake of the Plague, Inventing the Middle Ages, and The Civilization of the Middle Ages, the most widely read narrative of the Middle Ages in the English language. He died in 2004.

Reviews

"Astoundingly readable ... Extraordinarily powerful" -- "The Philadelphia Inquirer"Provocative . . . Exhilarating . . . A highly impassioned and personal book--and the better for it" -- "The Washington Post Book World"Grandly conceived and brilliantly executed ... it is the best book about historians I have read in years, and not only a pleasure to read but exciting to read." -- Gordon Craig, Professor Emeritus of History, Stanford University"Brilliant ... No other book published this year is more witty and challenging." -- "Houston Chronicle"

This book is much broader in scope than the title would imply. Part historiography, part biographical sketches, and part personal memoir, it explores the lives of the 20 scholars (19 men and one woman) whom Cantor perceives as ``the great medievalists'' of the period 1895-1965. His thesis is that Wilsonian idealism, World War II, the Nazi Holocaust, and the Cold War shaped the world views and the interpretations of the European and American scholars studying the Middle Ages. The book is based on Cantor's frequently brilliant, sometimes fanciful (he knew seven personally) analysis of the scholars' works; their obituary notices; and his memory of conversations that took place 40 or more years ago. Strong on the historians (predictably, since Cantor is a historian), respectable on the literary scholars, weak on the art historians, the book contains a mine of information, much of it anecdotal, about those discussed. Bristling with prejudices, judgments (in many cases wrongheaded), and predictions, clever and witty in style, it will command a wide audience in both academia and the informed reading public. For research and general collections. History Book Club selection. -- Bennett D. Hill, George town Univ., Washington, D.C.

"Astoundingly readable ... Extraordinarily powerful" -- "The Philadelphia Inquirer"Provocative . . . Exhilarating . . . A highly impassioned and personal book--and the better for it" -- "The Washington Post Book World"Grandly conceived and brilliantly executed ... it is the best book about historians I have read in years, and not only a pleasure to read but exciting to read." -- Gordon Craig, Professor Emeritus of History, Stanford University"Brilliant ... No other book published this year is more witty and challenging." -- "Houston Chronicle"