The Middle Ages: From the Fall of Rome to the Rise of the Renaissance

The Story of the World #2

by Susan Wise Bauer

This second book in the four-volume narrative history series for elementary students will transform your study of history. The Story of the World has won awards from numerous homeschooling magazines and readers' polls―over 150,000 copies of the series in print! Now more than ever, other cultures are affecting our everyday lives―and our children need to learn about the other countries of the world and their history. Susan Wise Bauer has provided a captivating guide to the history of other lands. Written in an engaging, straightforward manner, this revised edition of The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child, Volume 2: The Middle Ages weaves world history into a story book format. Who discovered chocolate? What happened to the giant Fovor of the Mighty Blows? Why did the Ottoman Turks drag their war ships across dry land?

The Story of the World covers the sweep of human history from ancient times until the present. Africa, China, Europe, the Americas―find out what happened all around the world in long-ago times. Designed as a read-aloud project for parents and children to share together, The Story of the World includes each continent and major people group. Volume 2: The Middle Ages , is the second of a four-volume series and covers the major historical events in the years 400 to 1600 CE, as well as including maps, illustrations, and tales from each culture.

Each Story of the World volume provides a full year of history study when combined with the Activity Book, Audiobook, and Tests―each available separately to accompany each volume of The Story of the World Text Book. Volume 2 Grade Recommendation: Grades 1-6. Illustrated throughout with black-and-white drawings and maps

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Education, School, Historical, Childrens, Medieval

424 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2003

About the author

Susan Wise Bauer is an American author, English instructor of writing and American literature at The College of William and Mary, and founder of Well-Trained Mind Press (formerly Peace Hill Press).

Reviews

[Cindy Rollins · Rating 3 out of 5]

We enjoyed reading this aloud this year. I was sometimes disappointed that this book was less inspiring than say, Hillyer's Child's History. The last chapter on the Spanish Armada was unnecessarily boring.

[Ebookwormy1 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm noticing that the closer we get to modern times, the more there is to argue about in the historical record. I assure you, I didn't agree with all of Susan Wise Bauer's presentation of the Middle Ages, but the only way to be perfectly satisfied would be to write a history myself and I don't have the time for that. Besides, I'm sure there are parts of it that frustrate Susan herself. Such is the nature of flawed humanity's attempts to document our past and - even more controversial - teach it to our children.

Some examples: Why are rulers and conquerors of ancient empires seldom censured while the Spanish conquering of new world is looked up so negatively. I don't think Alexander the Great offered peace treaties to everyone he encountered before battle, and neither did Julius Ceaser (who once sold thousands of captives from battle into slavery). Catholics and Protestants alike will surely find something to dislike in Bauer's presentation of the Reformation, and the introduction of Islam is sure to be controversial in today's age.

Even with these flaws, this is an excellent program and I can see why most home school programs use Story of the World in some way, shape or form. We continue to listen to these on audio in the car, supplementing with images and stories as we have time (sometimes I intentionally look for something to provide balance where I feel Bauer is not quite where i'd have been). We have enjoyed many discussions about characters, cultures and history, including the parts of the presentation that make Mommy or Daddy uncomfortable. Students develop interest in favorite stories and characters. This is an outstanding resource for our preschool exposure to the story of the world. We will happily use it again for elementary education.

As for the audio production, Jim Weise does an excellent job with the narration. True, there are a few tracks that seemed a bit rushed, but these are isolated incidences that can be explained by differences of creative preference.

Overall, highly recommended. On to Early Modern Times!!!!

-----Additional thoughts:
There is a quote, often attributed to Winston Churchill (though I'm not sure it originated with him), "History is written by the victors." What is interesting to me about the current state of education in Western Civilization is that the victors (those of the West) have initiated a systematic mea culpa in Western Civics instruction. This is strange, and seems unprecedented that a culture would censure itself to this degree. I agree we need to look at our history critically, but I don't agree with the tearing down of the foundations of our culture as a form of repentance or even reconciliation.

This trend also emerges in "Early Modern Times" where we are given a graphic story about a young South American boy working in a Spanish mine. The impression is the problem of slavery emerged with the Spanish in the Americas. However, the problem of slavery was indeed present long before Spain entered the Americas (though no one will deny the discovery of the new world gave the practice a new open market). In fact, I am currently reading a book called "Slavery: A World History" that describes the conditions of ROMAN mines in SPAIN and documents how Rome, the greatest civilization our planet has ever known (at least in terms of longevity) maintained the largest slave market in the world. Yet slavery in Rome was never mentioned as a concern.

The Story of the World: Early Modern Times, Wise Bauer, 2004
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[David Withun · Rating 5 out of 5]

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[Margaret Gipson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as great as the first volume, in my opinion, but great! If you have strong feelings about this era of history you may occasionally bristle a bit. We listened to this on a road trip- the kids loved it and I found out that I feel more strongly about how the wives and children of Henry XVIII are characterized than I realized. On the whole, I still appreciate that the book assumes that children will be fascinated by history and treats it as interesting and relevant.

[Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

By and large this is a wonderful and engaging volume of history for children. How awful that in our culture, in our mainstream way of educating, history is presented as dry and lifeless. So, kudos for sure to the author. As an adult I really enjoyed it.

All that said, this volume isn't without its flaws or fair criticism in some areas. I would love for someone to create a better volume, but as of now, this series has no viable rival when it comes to giving children a flyover view of western/world history presented in a winsome and entertaining way. I'll leave it at that and would absolutely recommend this 2nd volume in "The Story of the World."

[Mereda Hart Farynyk · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m honestly so sad to be done with this book! It’s the first time I’ve read a history book that made me feel the way good fiction does: that I just didn’t want to stop reading and couldn’t wait to get back to it 🤪🙃

Such an engaging, interesting overview of one of my favorite times in history.*

*This was a read aloud for school.

[Private Account · Rating 2 out of 5]

As noted by other readers, I love this series, but not how they are treating the US narrative.

Slavery in times and places all throughout human history (that she writes chapters on, never lamenting how horrible it was, just mentioning it as fact) and now we get to African slavery in colonial America and “oh my gosh it was so horrible and unfair — those bad whities” No mention of enslaved Irish, no mention of Ottoman slavery of whites going on at the same time and far longer, nope, just the same old white people are bad and black people are victims narrative.

Same with Native Americans. Endless chapters and books filled with peoples conquering other peoples and then we get to the conquering of America and suddenly it’s the greatest tragedy to have ever occurred, Whites are bad and Native Americans are victims.

So... hoping she does a new edition where she lets go of the white guilt narrative.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

We use these history curriculum for our homeschooling, and they are fantastic. They cover across the whole world and all different countries. I appreciate that they come from a Biblical world view without forcing or preaching. In that, I appreciate that it shows other religions and the beliefs or legends of those religions too. But in turn, I believe it's important to know other religions and other cultures in knowing our own. Not only for history but also for the present. This is a great historical resource!

[Amy Lawrence · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of information in this book. A bit choppy on the flow but the author explains why she put it together the way she did.
My child still had a big chore keeping it all together. But it IS a good book and appropriate for the late elementary, early middle school age.

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

We are really enjoying this series. A very interesting walk through history.

Second time through.

[Melisa BOZKURT · Rating 5 out of 5]

~Okuması oldukça eğelenceliydi! Ortaçağda gerçekleşen önemli olayların hepsine (aşırı detaya girmeden) değinmiş. Orta okul seviyesinden itibaren herkes okuyabilir. Hikayeleyici anlatım kullanıldığı için hiç sıkılmadan merak içinde okudum.
~Olaylara objektif yaklaşmış. Milliyetçi anlatımı yoktu bu açıdan da beğendim.
~Bence tarihte olan olaylarla ilgili her şeyden azar azar bilgilenmek istiyorum derseniz okumanız gereken bir kitap.

~mel <3

[Meredith Broadwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not a history buff, so I can't speak very well to the balance, but my 2nd grader loved this book and I enjoyed it, too. There were naturally opportunities to talk about "well, that's how so and so told the story, but I wonder how the other person/nation, etc. would have reported it." She's in 2nd grade after all and not prepared to consume this type of material without some level of guidance (minimal as it may be).

Anyway. No one ever dreaded history, and she often said it's her favorite subject. Aside from narrating and filling out the maps, we also used the activity book and frequently supplemented with some of the recommendations; generally the literature selections and not the straight history selections. We did about half reading and half listening to the audio recordings, which were very well done. I already have the next book ready for next year.

[Ammie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful spine/additional spine for the Middle Ages. 😍

[Ro · Rating 5 out of 5]

So long, but so great. 😻😻😻😻😻😻😹😹😹😹😹😹😹😹🙀🙀🙀🙀🙀🙀😺😺😺😺😺😺😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😸😻😻😻😻😻😻😻😻😻😻😻😻😻😻😻😻

[Laura Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptionally well written. Our edition was the revised edition from 2007 and my one gripe is that it is quite Eurocentric. Still gave us lots of jumping off points for discussion together as we read out loud.

[Sticky Note Book Recs Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just finished reading this one to my youngest for school, and we loved it! These books are such a great retelling of history, so interesting, and perfect for children to understand. All of my kids love hearing history read aloud from the Story of the World books!

[Kristie Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

These are excellent history books to read out loud or assign for reading for older kids

[Jennifer Wilkey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic survey of Middle Ages/Renaissance history. Covers all areas of the globe in a balanced way.

[Realini Ionescu · Rating 4 out of 5]

History for the Classical Child by Susan Wise Bauer

About positivity, democracy and special education for world leaders



This is a wonderful book, but the question is what does the joy I felt say about my reading sophistication, or total lack thereof. After all, this is a book for children, as the title says.

History is about facts and they cannot be modified for kids ‘use, can they?

And then the story is told in an accessible and I liked that, even if it feels awkward

- Common! How can read children’s books

- You’re lowering your standards.

Maybe, but variety is one of the keys to life satisfaction and I feel that alternating Ibsen with school Literature may create a kind of balance that too much intellectual effort may upset.

At least for this poor reader.

Then there is another interesting aspect about history. The great flaw in reading history may be not immersing in a book which is explained in simpler tones, but the way it is generally written and brought to us.

Most of history is about men. Throughout history women played a minor role.

Yes, we have Cleopatra, Helen of Troy and a few famous queens, like Elisabeth.

But the overwhelming majority of prominent figures is made of men, in large parts of the world white men to be exact, even if the majority had a different skin color.

I am no socialist and I believe in elites, not the power of uneducated, rudimentary masses. Democracy is the best we can do so far, but it has many flaws:

People who know little or nothing about politics, often nothing about life in general, get to vote and affect the life of society, even if they might be suffering from functional illiteracy.

In a near perfect society, we would have tests to see if somebody is apt to vote, just as a license is necessary to practice medicine, drive and so on.

For about twenty five years I lived in a dictatorship and I know firsthand how terrible a dictatorship can be.

But the idea of an enlightened monarch, highly educated, sophisticated, in love with the arts, with knowledge of positive psychology and nearly perfect has some appeal for me. He would push through the best solutions, will avoid squabbling over petty stupid and useless projects such as bridges to nowhere, which plague nations from Japan to the USA.

In our parliament, officials are useless, they point out what democracy can be at its basest, lowest denominator. Just a bunch of crooks (mostly) interested in criminal activities covered by the immunity that they have used in a series of cases, to keep themselves out of jail. An utter disgrace.

This is lousy. And it is not isolated- you see them fist fighting in elected houses from the Ukraine on to Taiwan and other places. And look at many of the leaders of today and recent years: Castro, il Sung, Berlusconi, Chavez, Maduro, Morales, Putin, Lukashenka, Erdogan and even Hollande.

Is this all that democracy can produce?

An ancient dictatorship produced Alexander the Great with his many flaws, but shouldn’t progress and thousands of years of history give us more than a Putin, Hollande or recently a Junkers in charge of the EU, albeit with many strings attached.



Serious tests and skills should be required and a special education provided for those who aspire to become world leaders. The price paid for mistakes is too great



This book is also about positivity and its ingredients which you find here in abundance:

Joy, pride, amusement, hope, awe, inspiration, interest, gratitude and love

[Anthony Chang · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book about the Middle Ages and people that is known worldwide is all here. Some of you might know genghis-khan a Mongolian leader during the 100th century and died in a memorable way. This second book in the history series will definitely enhance your knowledge and understanding about the past. There are questions and answers to who discovered chocolate? What happened to the giant Fovor of the Mighty Blows? Why did the Ottoman Turks drag their war ships across a place that’s not even slightly wet. The Story of the World covers the sweep of human history from ancient times until the present. Africa, China, Europe, the Americas— these places will blow your mind. Now people think that the past and present is not that different, but after you read this book, I am sure that you will change your mind.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this for our school history read aloud. It is a great living book and presents history in a fun story format. The kids enjoying learning history of Middle Ages in this format. I enjoyed reading this to the kids. It did not feel like I was reading a boring history with all the facts. It presented the facts in a fun story way and didn’t stress all the details. We will be reading more in this series and I look forward to seeing what comes next.

[Abigail Westbrook · Rating 4 out of 5]

We enjoyed using this as a read aloud for our homeschool curriculum. I would not use it as a history course on its own because so much is left out completely or is overly simplified. But in conjunction with other books and sources it worked well for us. It is written in a way that the kids enjoyed listening, and we also had fun with the review questions in the corresponding activity book.

[Corey Wozniak · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m so grateful for these books. My 5-y-o son is learning so much: history, but geography, religion, culture, literature, architecture, philosophy, science, intellectual history. On to book 3!

[Katy Van Meter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every time I read a history book, I become a little more postmil.

[Luci · Rating 5 out of 5]

Used this as our 3rd grade history spine and it went really well. My student even read a few chapters on his own and loved it.

[Sean McGowan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent. This is a really enjoyable read. I recommend reading it to your children in order for them to get a comprehensive, yet understandable overview of western civilization.

[Elizabeth Reid · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started in the middle of the book and read to the end. Now, that isn't something I normally do with a book, but with this one it was totally possible!

This is a well-written book that skims over world history without coming across as overly brief or simplistic. I found myself putting this book down many times and researching subjects further.

While this spine claims to be geared toward elementary-age students, it can give all ages a great historical education.

[Dee Kohler · Rating 4 out of 5]

These books are helping me so much!! I feel like I finally get history and how everything fits together!

[Carolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

As with all history books, the trick is in the editing—obviously a person COULD include everything, but then you couldn’t lift the book. I think Bauer did a great job selecting major moments from around the globe to introduce her readers to.

I don’t include all our school books on Goodreads, but since I read the entire thing aloud, I think I definitely get credit for this. 😆 On to the early modern world!

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the "Story of the World" volumes, Susan Wise Bower seeks to tell history as a story of events that is interesting to children learning history. She does this well in this volume. I appreciate that she really does tell the story of the world in the middle ages. Often, when I think of the middle ages, I think of Europe, knights, the bubonic plague, etc., but Bower does an excellent job of telling what was going on in all other parts of world during that time period.

I did not, however, think that this volume was as good as the first volume. I found several errors and did not like that she omitted the dates from the end of each chapter. In the workbook companion, I also wish that she had put the instructions for the mapwork on the maps instead of solely in the teacher's edition. It has been more beneficial for me to have my child do the maps on her own, and this omission has created extra work for me to write the directions on each map. I do appreciate that in this volume, there was a map at the beginning of each chapter.

As read this book, I was reminded of many things I had forgotten, and learned some new things as well. This is definitely a good resource for teaching history to young children.