The Early Middle Ages, which marked the end of the Roman Empire and the creation of the kingdoms of Western Europe, was a period central to the formation of modern Europe. This period has often been drawn into a series of discourses that are more concerned with the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries than with the distant past. In The Modern Origins of the Early Middle Ages, Ian Wood explores how Western Europeans have looked back to the Middle Ages to discover their origins and the origins of their society. Using historical records and writings about the Fall of Rome and the Early Middle Ages, Wood reveals how these influenced modern Europe and the way in which the continent thought about itself. He asks, and answers, the important question: why is early-medieval history, or indeed any pre-modern history, important? This volume promises to add to the debate on the significance of medieval history in the modern world.

The Modern Origins of the Early Middle Ages

History

Wood, Ian

Europe

Oxford University Press

This new book reassesses the historical literature Churchill's life has prompted and looks at both his successes and failures in a thematic way. It is not a biography of Churchill, but addresses many of the issues raised throughout Churchill's career as a politician and, for a crucial period, a national leader, with a dramatic place in British history in the first half of the twentieth century. It considers his role as a strategist and minister in the First World War, his opposition to appeasement in the 1930s, his role in domestic politics and his attitudes to Europe, the United States, the Soviet Union and to the Irish question. Out of this overview emerges a politician in many ways flawed, yet also a larger-than-life figure with a generosity of spirit and leadership qualities which made him indispensable to Britain in the greatest crisis of its history.

Churchill (British History in Perspective, 99)

Biographies & Memoirs

Historical

Red Globe Press

A comprehensive scholarly survey of the Merovingian dynasty's 300-year rule of the Frankish,kingdom they founded in France, Belgium, the Rhineland and Switzerland. The kingdom was the largest, the most powerful and longest-enduring of all Imperial Rome's western successors, yet the Merovingians themselves have been harshly treared by posterity (largely because of the hostility of the Carolingian dynasty that usurped and succeeeded them). Ian Wood rescues them from the shadows of obscurity and contempt in this major contribution to early medieval historiography: he brings to life one of the most fomative yet least understood periods of Western European History. Period reassessed entirely from original sources: major scholarly undertaking that should become the standard study of the subject for the next generation of scholars Covers all aspects of the Merovingian period, and considers their influence not just on their own territories but also on Europe more widely, reassessing their cultural importance to the sixth and seventh centuries. Re-evaluates Merovingian history in the light on contemporary opinion, as far as that can be recovered, away from the hostile historiography of their Carolingian successors. A recurrent motif throughout the book is the central role played by their formidable womenfolk, foremost among them the rival queens and matriarchus, Fredegund and Brunhild.

The Merovingian Kingdoms 450-751: Ian Wood

Addison-Wesley Longman Ltd

The great missionary figures were crucial to their own time and to posterity. They brought Christian belief and culture to the pagan societies of Dark Age Europe. Not only agents of change, they were also some of Europe's finest historians, leaving a detailed record of the cultures they transformed. The work of St Augustine in England is just one example. Anyone who has read Ian Wood's equally ambitious and compelling survey The Missionary Life, will rediscover his ability to bring a remote age to life. The unreliable history of the missionary life is disentangled to produce a uniquely wide-ranging account - giving a sense of the individual experience and collective ethos of the mission, the missionaries' influence on communities and their links to the rest of Christendom.

The Missionary Life (Medieval World)

Routledge

The Merovingian Kingdoms 450 - 751

A comprehensive survey which begins with the rise of the Franks, then examines the Merovingians.

Fragments of History: Rethinking the Ruthwell and Bewcastle Monuments

Fragments of history: Rethinking the Ruthwell and Bewcastle monuments is an innovative study of the two premier survivals of pre-Viking Anglo-Saxon stone sculpture. Both monuments are rich in finely carved images and complex inscriptions. Though in some way related, in this book, they have very different histories. This ambitious study draws the reader in through a vivid exposition of the problems left by earlier interpretations, shows him or her how to understand the monuments as social products in relation to a history of which our knowledge is so fragmentary, and concludes with a deeply persuasive discussion of their underlying premises. Orton, Wood and Lees bring their research in art history and antiquarianism, history and archaeology, medieval literature, philosophy and gender studies into a successful and coherent whole, organised around certain key notions, such as place, history and tradition, style, similarity and difference, time, textuality and identity. Theoretically astute, rigorously researched, vivid and readable, Fragments of history is a model of how interdisciplinary research can be conducted, written and published. It will be required reading in a number of disciplines, including art history, Anglo-Saxon studies, medieval language and literature, history and ecclesiastical history, antiquarianism and archaeology.

Fragments of history: Rethinking the Ruthwell and Bewcastle monuments

Arts & Photography

ORTON, FRED

Lees, Clare

History & Criticism

Manchester University Press

Examines the discovery of platinum, its chemical make-up, its uses, and its importance in our lives.

Platinum (Elements)

Children's Books

Science, Nature & How It Works

Cavendish Square

With over 400 high quality maps, plans, and photographs this book brings the subject to life, revealing all aspects of rail transportation and technology. It maps the spread of the networks across the country, showing the stations and important intersections, the layout and location of major bridges and tunnels, and much more. It examines railroad technology, from the early steam engines, through diesel and electric locomotives. It also details the building of stations, railroad constructions and factories that grew up around the railroad network. Social history is explored, covering the movement of people, farm produce and manufactured goods, giving a real insight into the role that rail transportation played.

The Historical Atlas of North American Railroads

Reference

Westwood, John.

Atlases & Maps

Chartwell Books

Looks at the history, geological features, wildlife, and importance of the Hudson River to the state of New York.

The Hudson River (Rivers of North America)

Geography & Cultures

Gareth Stevens Pub.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Wood, Ian. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Wood, Ian

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Wood, Ian. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Modern Origins of the Early Middle Ages

The Modern Origins of the Early Middle Ages

Churchill (British History in Perspective, 99)

The Merovingian Kingdoms 450-751: Ian Wood

The Missionary Life (Medieval World)

The Merovingian Kingdoms 450 - 751

Fragments of history: Rethinking the Ruthwell and Bewcastle monuments

Platinum (Elements)

The Historical Atlas of North American Railroads

The Hudson River (Rivers of North America)