comprehensive narration of Western history written from an orthodox Catholic perspective. How would a historical narrative read if the author began with the first principles that truth exists and the Incarnation happened? This series is essential reading for those who consider the West worth defending.

One of Carroll's shorter books, probably because there's only so much one can say about this era. Such as there is, he says, though; this is vastly superior to Durant's cursory treatment in _The Age of Faith_, and I heartily recommend it, particularly for anyone interested in the early days of Islam or the Muslim conquest of Spain -- an event that very few English-speakers seem to know anything about. Byzantium, the Carolingian Empire, and Saxon England are more familiar ground, but if you got your knowledge of those eras from Bulfinch's Mythology and Isaac Asimov, you'll get a lot out of this book. ( )