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INTRODUCTION
How the Middle Ages are defined
The Western Roman Empire fell to the attacks of Germanic tribes in 476. The period between this event and the Renaissance is defined as the Middle Ages. Although in some ways this was a dark period for Europe, poetry, music, cathedral building and other arts were highly developed. In the field of exploration, Vikings discovered America long before Columbus.
A golden age for eastern civilizations
The definition of the Middle Ages just given is excessively Eurocentric. It is important to remember that the Middle Ages were years of great scientific and cultural progress for the Islamic world, and for China and India. In this book, we will also discuss the great achievements of these civilizations.
Human history as cultural history
We need to reform our teaching of history so that the emphasis will be placed on the gradual growth of human culture and knowledge, a growth to which all nations and ethnic groups have contributed.
This book is part of a series on cultural history. Here is a list of the other books in the series that have, until now, been completed:
The pdf files of these books may be freely downloaded and circulated from here, here and here.
Read the entire book above or download it here.
We thank John Scales Avery, a renowned intellectual, EACPE board member, and theoretical chemist at the University of Copenhagen, for giving us permission to reproduce his latest book for EACPE.
