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Summary
Summary
History's greatest tour guide, Ian Mortimer, takes us on an eye-opening and expansive journey through the last millennium of human innovation.
In Millennium , bestselling historian Ian Mortimer takes the reader on a whirlwind tour of the last ten centuries of Western history. It is a journey into a past vividly brought to life and bursting with ideas, that pits one century against another in his quest to measure which century saw the greatest change.
We journey from a time when there was a fair chance of your village being burned to the ground by invaders--and dried human dung was a recommended cure for cancer--to a world in which explorers sailed into the unknown and civilizations came into conflict with each other on an epic scale. Here is a story of godly scientists, fearless adventurers, cold-hearted entrepreneurs, and strong-minded women--a story of discovery, invention, revolution, and cataclysmic shifts in perspective.
Millennium is a journey into the past like no other. Our understanding of human development will never be the same again, and the lessons we learn along the way are profound ones for us all.
Author Notes
Dr. Ian Mortimer has been described by the London Times as "the most remarkable medieval historian of our time." He is the author of The Time Traveler's Guide to Restoration Britain and Outcasts of Time, both available from Pegasus Books. He was awarded the Alexander Prize by the Royal Historical Society and is a Fellow of both the Royal Historical Society and the Society of Antiquaries. Please visit his website at www.ianmortimer.com . He lives in England.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Acclaimed British medievalist Mortimer (The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England) takes readers on a tour of the last thousand years as he attempts to glean which century of the last millennium saw the most change in Western civilization. He charts the progress and evolution of Western society while asking some truly challenging questions-how much influence did da Vinci truly have on history?-and making startling omissions (Napoleon, for instance, fails to rate even a mention). Given the expansive nature of his study, Mortimer often relies on statistics and data to illustrate a broad historical context; less often, he takes brief but engaging dips into the history of individuals and cultures. Though some may be unconvinced by Mortimer's reliance on quantitative reasoning, it is hard to fault much of what he has selected as the most relevant trends and transformations of the West. But the most startling piece of analysis comes only after Mortimer has rendered his verdict. In the final chapter, Mortimer speculates about the future of Western society using the same schema that he applied to the past millennium. Though his predictions are grim, Mortimer's intrinsic faith in human perseverance offers a glimmer of hope for the coming thousand years. (Nov.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Most observers agree that the 20th century saw dazzling changes: the automobile, airplane, atom bomb, antibiotics, computers, space travel, the internet, and hundreds of other amazing advancements. What century can match that? Every one since 1000, responds veteran British social historian Mortimer, and he makes a convincing case.Following his format of The Time Travelers Guide to Elizabethan England (2013), the author rewinds the clock for a fascinating, century-by-century Eurocentric argument that stuff more world-shaking than cellphones has been happening for a millennium. In much of the 11th century, the Holy Roman Emperor had the power to appoint and remove popes. By 1100, the papacy was an elected position, and Christendom dominated Europe. A powerful church supported powerful monarchs, whose armies finally drove off raiding Vikings, Magyars, and Mongols. Violence diminished, the population prospered, and cities expanded. By 1200, medieval Europe was enjoying a renaissance. Famine and plague devastated the continent after 1300, but an even bigger renaissance followed. The humanism movement, which glorified individual achievement, produced an explosion of art and science but also, for the first time, diaries and personal letters. By 1800, almost everyone had enough to eat, in itself a unique development. Mortimers chapters on the 19th and 20th centuries are lengthy and familiar but contain a few jolts. The author emphasizes that revolutions have a terrible record in promoting justice. Single-issue crusadese.g., anti-slavery, womens rights, civil rights, the eight-hour workdaydo much better. Throughout, Mortimer focuses on changes that affected everyone. Thus, the revolution of printing didnt fully catch on in 1450 with the invention of the printing press (early books were expensive and in Latin) but rather with the avalanche of cheap, vernacular Bibles a century later. A quirky but always delightful social history that will convince most readers that social revolutions have been happening for a long time. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* During the remarkable 105 years of a life that ended in 1387, Sir John de Sully witnessed many changes in Europe consequent to the Black Death. But assessing the lasting effect of these changes requires the historical perspective that Mortimer develops as he tracks the century-by-century transformations that turned Europe from a feudal patchwork held together by the Catholic Church in the eleventh century to a secular confederation of nations united by international law, mass communication, and cybertechnology in the twenty-first century. Peter Abelard emerges as the decisive change agent of the twelfth century; Richard III, of the fifteenth; and Karl Marx, of the nineteenth. Though Mortimer finally concurs with the widespread judgment that the twentieth century saw more overall change than any preceding one, he insists that the sixteenth century experienced more profound changes in ideology and law and the nineteenth more dramatic changes in demography. An atheist, Mortimer surprisingly identifies God understood as a motivating belief as the master cause of change for the millennium as a whole. Yet he seems quite happy to bid Deity farewell as he faces an anticipated future so dire (food and fuel disappearing, political oppression surging) that readers may start praying. Exceptionally capacious and stimulating historical inquiry.--Christensen, Bryce Copyright 2016 Booklist
Choice Review
Mortimer cruises through the last 1,000 years century by century, describing the greatest changes and choosing the most important "change agent" for each. He discusses social and intellectual developments, wars, revolutions, religion, medical advances, speed of communication, and transport. Historians will enjoy going along with him and arguing with his choices (Edward III as the change agent of the 14th century?). At the end, he concludes that the 19th and 20th centuries saw the greatest changes, driven by the exploitation of fossil fuels. The three biggest changes of the 20th century were globalization, the threat of mass destruction, and the unsustainability of standards of living. Using a photo of Earth from space (1968), the author says this small, isolated orb is the only planet humans have, and its resources are not unlimited, not enough to maintain the burgeoning population at its current level. The Malthusian doom, he says, has been staved off by technological advances but not stopped. One may find the main part of the book too superficial, but the conclusion is a tour de force and should produce serious discussion. Summing Up: Highly recommended. General, public, and undergraduate collections. --Evelyn Edson, Piedmont Virginia Community College
Table of Contents
| Introduction | p. 1 |
| 1001-1100 The Eleventh Century | p. 9 |
| The growth of the Western Church | p. 14 |
| Peace | p. 20 |
| The discontinuation of slavery | p. 23 |
| Structural engineering | p. 26 |
| 1101-1200 The Twelfth Century | p. 33 |
| Population growth | p. 35 |
| The expansion of the monastic network | p. 38 |
| The intellectual renaissance | p. 41 |
| Medicine | p. 47 |
| The rule of law | p. 51 |
| 1201-1300 The Thirteenth Century | p. 57 |
| Commerce | p. 59 |
| Education | p. 65 |
| Accountability | p. 69 |
| Friars | p. 73 |
| Travel | p. 77 |
| 1301-1400 The Fourteenth Century | p. 84 |
| The Black Death | p. 86 |
| Projectile warfare | p. 92 |
| Nationalism | p. 97 |
| Vernacular languages | p. 102 |
| 1401-1500 The Fifteenth Century | p. 108 |
| The age of discovery | p. 110 |
| Measuring time | p. 116 |
| Individualism | p. 120 |
| Realism and Renaissance naturalism | p. 123 |
| 1501-1600 The Sixteenth Century | p. 129 |
| Printed hooks and literacy | p. 132 |
| The Reformation | p. 139 |
| Firearms | p. 144 |
| The decline of private violence | p. 148 |
| The foundation of European empires | p. 154 |
| 1601-1700 The Seventeenth Century | p. 160 |
| The Scientific Revolution | p. 164 |
| The Medical Revolution | p. 172 |
| Settlement of the world | p. 176 |
| The social contract | p. 180 |
| Rise of the middle classes | p. 182 |
| 1701-1800 The Eighteenth Century | p. 188 |
| Transport and communications | p. 189 |
| The Agricultural Revolution | p. 195 |
| Enlightenment liberalism | p. 199 |
| Economic theory | p. 205 |
| The Industrial Revolution | p. 211 |
| Political revolution | p. 215 |
| 1801-1900 The Nineteenth Century | p. 224 |
| Population growth and urbanisation | p. 226 |
| Transport | p. 231 |
| Communications | p. 236 |
| Public health and sanitation | p. 240 |
| Photography | p. 245 |
| Social reform | p. 249 |
| 1901-2000 The Twentieth Century | p. 261 |
| Transport | p. 263 |
| War | p. 271 |
| Life expectancy | p. 277 |
| The media | p. 279 |
| Electrical and electronic appliances | p. 282 |
| The invention of the future | p. 286 |
| Conclusion: Which century saw the most change? | p. 295 |
| Stability and change | p. 296 |
| A scale of needs | p. 299 |
| Social change in relation to the scale of needs | p. 302 |
| The end of history? | p. 319 |
| The principal agent of change | p. 325 |
| Envoi: Why it matters | p. 328 |
| Appendix: Population estimates | p. 347 |
| Notes | p. 355 |
| Picture Credits | p. 379 |
| Index | p. 381 |