The Abacus and the Cross: The Story of the Pope Who Brought the Light of Science to the Dark Ages Review

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The Abacus and the Cross: The Story of the Pope Who Brought the Light of Science to the Dark Ages ReviewPositives and Accomplishments
Actually I give the book 5 stars for Brown's treatment of Gerbert and his immediate environment, and for her scholarship in this regard. She paints an accurate, vivid, thorough, fair, and compelling picture of the man, his work and his direct circumstances (monastery, cathedral school, journeys, and royal court, papacy). In doing this she expressly eschews standard myths and ideological mischaracterizations of the Middle Ages or Gerbert himself basing it on current scholarship.
For these reasons I highly recommend the book.
Deficiencies
I give her four stars over all is because she deserves only three stars for her treatment of many major currents and movements in the broader Medieval world. Actually it's rather weird how she often has no problem pandering to standard myths and mischaracterizations and ignoring current scholarship when it comes the Crusades, Medieval Inquisition, history of Medieval science in general, and medieval religious life even though she explicitly seeks to avoid these for Gerbert himself!
A glaring example. She wonders wide-eyed at how the peaceful coexistence of Christian and Muslim scholars pursuing science shoulder to shoulder in 10th century Islamic Spain could degenerate into the "intolerance" of the Reconquista. Gee, does she wonder at how the peaceful media images of Iraqi children playing with American soldiers while parents smile benignly could degenerate into them wanting us out of their country?
Remedies
Crusades - The New Concise History of the Crusades (Critical Issues in History), Thomas F. Madden, The Crusades: The Essential Readings, The Crusades: A History
Inquisition - Inquisition
History of Medieval Science - The Beginnings of Western Science: The European Scientific Tradition in Philosophical, Religious, and Institutional Context, Prehistory to A.D. 1450; Science in the Middle Ages (Chicago History of Science and Medicine); The Foundations of Modern Science in the Middle Ages: Their Religious, Institutional and Intellectual Contexts (Cambridge Studies in the History of Science); Science and Religion, 400 B.C. to A.D. 1550: From Aristotle to Copernicus; Medieval Foundations of the Western Intellectual Tradition (Yale Intellectual History of the West Se)
Medieval Religious Life - The Rise of Western Christendom: Triumph and Diversity, A.D. 200-1000, 2nd Edition (The Making of Europe); The Oxford History of Medieval Europe; Patricia Ranft, Women and Spiritual Equality In Christian TraditionThe Abacus and the Cross: The Story of the Pope Who Brought the Light of Science to the Dark Ages Overview

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