This volume forms the first part of one of the finest general introductions to the medieval world of recent times. Lavishly illustrated, with numerous accompanying maps and charts, each of the three volumes presents a synthesis of scholarly research and interpretation, translated from the original French and revised thoroughly for an English speaking readership. Volume I spans the beginning of the Middle Ages, a period marked not only by change, plague and civil strife but also by the rise of the Church, the growing importance of Byzantium and the flowering of the Carologian Renaissance. Full coverage is given to East and West, and their artistic heritage is displayed in many of the colour plates. A bibliography is appended as an aid to further investigation, whether by the general reader or by teachers and students of the period. The two further volumes, on 950–1250 and on 1250–1520, are also available. The Cambridge Illustrated History of the Middle Ages is also sold as a three-volume boxed set. This well-illustrated companion to The Middle Ages: An Illustrated History III, 1250-1520 (LJ 9/1/86) should appeal to the sophisticated reader with a strong background in early medieval history. The several authors focus on social and economic transformations in the West: disease, drought, and demographic changes; continuing power of the rural senatorial aristocracy; the slow decline of slavery; the decay of towns and the disappearance of the business classes. The main contribution of the book, however (and the subjects to which over half of it is devoted), rests on its treatment of the Byzantine and Islamic worlds. There is a mine of fresh information here on agricultural, commercial, urban, military, and religious life. The intellectual history of the West gets short shrift; the prose is leaden and convoluted; and the brief bibliography shows scant familiarity with recent research in Germany or the United States. For general collections. - Bennett D. Hill, Georgetown Univ., Washington, D.C. Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. "An up-to-date and extensive discussion of three major civilizations that emerged from the dissolution of the classical world: the Byzantine Empire, the vast complex of Islam, and European Christian civilization." Choice Spans the beginning of the Middle Ages: the rise of the Church, Byzantium and the Carolingian Empire. This book is the first volume that introduces the reader to the period from 350 to 950 AD. Full coverage is given to East and West as well as the artistic heritage of this time. General readers, teachers and students will find this a useful book. Used Book in Good Condition