Extreme Makeover, the Middle Ages: New Cahill Book Seeks to Change an Image

by Heidi Schlumpf, Religion BookLine -- Publishers Weekly, 11/1/2006

With its images of torture chambers, damsels in distress, and royalty insisting the world is flat, it’s no wonder the word “medieval” is not a compliment today. But have the Middle Ages gotten a bad rap? A knight in shining armor has ridden in on his white horse to save the day: In Mysteries of the Middle Ages (Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, Oct.) author Thomas Cahill lays out the impressive contributions early Catholics made to Western civilization. The book is the fifth in his bestselling Hinges of History series.

“The truth of the matter is there were a lot more atrocities in the Reformation period than in the Middle Ages. Historians know that, but ordinary people are still receiving old information,” said Cahill, who has set the record straight about other historical myths in How the Irish Saved Civilization (Doubleday, 1995) and The Gifts of the Jews (Doubleday, 1998).

As he did in his other books, Cahill is trying to answer the question: How did we in the Western world become the people we are? “Going back into history is a way of finding the sources of our worldview. Everyone in the Western world has in them these responses that started in the Middle Ages,” he told RBL. Subtitled “The Rise of Feminism, Science, and Art from the Cults of Catholic Europe,” the new book highlights the contributions of early Christians—mostly laypeople—such as Hildegard of Bingen, Francis of Assisi, Peter Abelard, and Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitane.

But Mysteries doesn’t end in the Middle Ages. Cahill concludes with a strong critique of current Catholic leadership, as well as of George W. Bush. “After reading about these Catholic gifts to the world, I think the ordinary reader will ask, ‘When is he going to talk about all the horrible stuff?’ I think if you don’t deal with it, you’re letting yourself off the hook,” said Cahill. “I personally feel deeply about the [sex abuse] crisis in the Roman Catholic Church. I think the bishops are imposters.”

Although some think that critique might be out of place, the book already has received favorable reviews in some Catholic publications. Editor Nan A. Talese praises the author’s “passion for what is right and his appreciation for when he feels that’s been distorted.” Cahill’s other gift is his clear, accessible writing style. “He wears his knowledge very lightly,” she said.

Billed on the dust jacket as “the ultimate Christmas gift book” and filled with four-color art and graphics, Mysteries is aimed at the educated but not expert audience. “Underneath it all, people who buy books buy them for entertainment,” said Cahill. “You buy them for diversion, so I think you should be diverted.”