The Thirteenth Greatest of Centuries
A 1907 argument that the thirteenth century, not the Renaissance, is where the modern West actually starts.
James J. Walsh set out to show that the century of the cathedrals, the universities and Aquinas laid down more of the foundations of Western life than the period usually credited with it. The scholarship is a hundred years old and much of it has been superseded, but the enthusiasm is infectious and the questions it raises about Chartres, Giotto and the medieval university have not gone away.
Recommended by 1 Person
Tyler Cowen
James J. Walsh, The Thirteenth Greatest of Centuries. Eccentric, published long ago, not correct, yet full of vitality and insight. So many of the key pieces of the West already were in place by that time. So recommended, this one just has been reissued.
Source · July 2024
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