lucyb's review
4.0
This is an engaging and very useful book. It's thoughtful and passionate assessment of what medieval history as a field does, both methodologically and socially. Arnold's treatment of primary and secondary sources is thoughtful and lucid; I could easily imagine using this in an upper-level undergraduate class, or as first-week reading in an introductory graduate seminar.
Arnold begins by questioning what we (imagined as a general public) think we know about the Middle Ages and how the Middle Ages are portrayed, and giving a brief history of historiographical trends and methods. Arnold points out that defining “the Middle Ages” will and must always be tendentious, and that engaging with the question of periodization critically is part of our work as scholars. Each of the central three chapters deals with a different theme: sources, interdisciplinary influences, and scholarly debates.
As a currently-practicing medievalist, I found the first and last chapters particularly interesting, as in them, Arnold reflects on the practice (and uses) of medieval history as inherently tendentious, and also as a potentially vital public practice. Almost a decade after the book's publication, the need for questioning "the medieval" in public discourse is more pressing than ever.
Arnold begins by questioning what we (imagined as a general public) think we know about the Middle Ages and how the Middle Ages are portrayed, and giving a brief history of historiographical trends and methods. Arnold points out that defining “the Middle Ages” will and must always be tendentious, and that engaging with the question of periodization critically is part of our work as scholars. Each of the central three chapters deals with a different theme: sources, interdisciplinary influences, and scholarly debates.
As a currently-practicing medievalist, I found the first and last chapters particularly interesting, as in them, Arnold reflects on the practice (and uses) of medieval history as inherently tendentious, and also as a potentially vital public practice. Almost a decade after the book's publication, the need for questioning "the medieval" in public discourse is more pressing than ever.
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