{"product_id":"the-darkening-age-the-christian-destruction-of-the-classical-world-isbn-9781328589286","title":"The Darkening Age: The Christian Destruction of the Classical World","description":"\u003cstrong\u003eA \u003cem\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/em\u003e Notable Book, winner of the Jerwood Award from the Royal Society of Literature, a \u003cem\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cem\u003eBook Review\u003c\/em\u003e Editors’ Choice, and named a Book of the Year by the \u003cem\u003eTelegraph\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eSpectator\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eObserver\u003c\/em\u003e, and \u003cem\u003eBBC\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cem\u003eHistory Magazine\u003c\/em\u003e, this bold new history of the rise of Christianity shows how its radical followers helped to annihilate Greek and Roman civilizations. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Darkening Age\u003c\/em\u003e is the largely unknown story of how a militant religion deliberately attacked and suppressed the teachings of the Classical world, ushering in centuries of unquestioning adherence to \"one true faith.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDespite the long-held notion that the early Christians were meek and mild, going to their martyrs' deaths singing hymns of love and praise, the truth, as Catherine Nixey reveals, is very different. Far from being meek and mild, they were violent, ruthless, and fundamentally intolerant. Unlike the polytheistic world, in which the addition of one new religion made no fundamental difference to the old ones, this new ideology stated not only that it was the way, the truth, and the light but that, by extension, every single other way was wrong and had to be destroyed. From the first century to the sixth, those who didn't fall into step with its beliefs were pursued in every possible way: social, legal, financial, and physical. Their altars were upturned and their temples demolished, their statues hacked to pieces, and their priests killed. It was an annihilation.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAuthoritative, vividly written, and utterly compelling, this is a remarkable debut from a brilliant young historian. | \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA \u003cem\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/em\u003e Notable Book, 2018  A \u003cem\u003eNew York Times Book Review \u003c\/em\u003eEditors' Choice  Named a Book of the Year by the \u003cem\u003eTelegraph,\u003c\/em\u003e the \u003cem\u003eSpectator, \u003c\/em\u003ethe \u003cem\u003eObserver, \u003c\/em\u003eand\u003cem\u003e BBC History Magazine\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eWinner of the Royal Society of Literature Jerwood Award for Nonfiction\u003c\/strong\u003e   “A searingly passionate book… Nixey writes up a storm. Each sentence is rich, textured, evocative, felt…. Nixey delivers this ballista-bolt of a book with her eyes wide open and in an attempt to bring light as well as heat to the sad story of intellectual monoculture and religious intolerance.”  \u003cstrong\u003e—\u003cem\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e   \"Nixey paints with a wide brush...a fine history that is surely controversial in its view of how victims become victimizers and how professions of love turn to terror.\" \u003cstrong\u003e—\u003cem\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e  \"Nixey clearly but untendentiously summarizes phenomena that led up to the elimination of classical polytheism.\" \u003cstrong\u003e—\u003cem\u003eBooklist\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e   “Captivating and compelling, \u003cem\u003eThe Darkening Age\u003c\/em\u003e challenges our whole understanding of Christianity’s earliest years and the medieval society that followed. A remarkable fusion of riveting narrative and acute scholarly judgment, this book marks the debut of a formidable classicist and historian.” \u003cstrong\u003e—Dan Jones, best-selling author of \u003cem\u003eThe Plantagenets \u003c\/em\u003eand \u003cem\u003eThe Templars\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e   \"Catherine Nixey has written a bold, dazzling and provocative book that challenges ideas about early Christianity and both how – and why – it spread so far and fast in its early days. Nixey is a witty and iconoclastic guide to a world that will be unfamiliar, surprising and troubling to many.\" \u003cstrong\u003e—Peter Frankopan, best-selling author of \u003cem\u003eThe Silk Roads\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e   “Engaging and erudite, Catherine Nixey's book offers both a compelling argument and a wonderful eye for vivid detail. It shines a searching spotlight onto some of the murkiest aspects of the early medieval mindset. A triumph.” \u003cstrong\u003e—Edith Hall, author of\u003cem\u003e Introducing the Ancient Greeks\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e   “A devastating book, written in vivid yet playful prose. Catherine Nixey reveals a level of intolerance and anti-intellectualism which echoes today’s headlines but is centuries old.” \u003cstrong\u003e—Anita Anand, author of \u003cem\u003eSophia\u003c\/em\u003e and coauthor (with William Dalrymple) of \u003cem\u003eKoh-i-Noor\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e     “Nixey’s elegant and ferocious text paints a dark but riveting picture of life at the time of the ‘triumph’ of Christianity, reminding us not just of the realities of our own past, but also of the sad echoes of that past in our present.” \u003cstrong\u003e—Michael Scott, author of \u003cem\u003eAncient Worlds\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e   “[An] impassioned account… Nixey acutely and thunderously reminds us that many used the Christian project as an excuse to destroy rather than to love.” \u003cstrong\u003e—\u003cem\u003eBBC History Magazine\u003c\/em\u003e, \"Books of the Year\"\u003c\/strong\u003e   \"A book for the 21st century...Nixey has a great story to tell, and she tells it exceptionally well. As one would expect from a distinguished journalist, every page is full of well-turned phrases that leap from the page. She has an expert eye for arresting details, and brings characters and scenarios to life without disguising anything of the strangeness of the world she describes. Most of all, she navigates through these tricky waters with courage and skill...A finely crafted, invigorating polemic against the resilient popular myth that presents the Christianisation of Rome as the triumph of a kinder, gentler politics...[\u003cem\u003eThe Darkening Age\u003c\/em\u003e] succeeds brilliantly.\" \u003cstrong\u003e—Tim Whitmarsh, \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eGuardian\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e(UK)\u003c\/strong\u003e   \"A vigorous account...Nixey paints with a wide brush, but her point is well-taken...A fine history that is surely controversial in its view of how victims become victimizers and how professions of love turn to terror.\"  \u003cstrong\u003e—\u003cem\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e   \"\u003cem\u003eThe Darkening Age\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e \u003c\/strong\u003eby Catherine Nixey looks at the rise of Christianity, showing how its early radical followers ravaged vast swathes of classical culture, sending the West into an era of dogma and intellectual decline.\" \u003cstrong\u003e—\u003cem\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/em\u003e, \"Spring 2018 Announcements: History\"\u003c\/strong\u003e   “[A] vivid and important new book… Nixey is a funny, lively, readable guide through this dark world of religious oppression…. The book is also an essential reminder, in the age of Brexit and Donald Trump, that intolerance, ignorance and hostility to cultural diversity are sadly nothing new.” \u003cstrong\u003e—\u003cem\u003eThe New Statesman\u003c\/em\u003e (UK)\u003c\/strong\u003e   “Exceptionally well written...[a] clever, compelling book.” \u003cstrong\u003e—Thomas W. Hodgkinson, \u003cem\u003eThe Spectator\u003c\/em\u003e (UK)   \u003c\/strong\u003e  “Sardonic, well-informed and quite properly lacking in sympathy for its hapless target ... \u003cem\u003eThe Darkening Age\u003c\/em\u003e rattles along at a tremendous pace, and Nixey brilliantly evokes all that was lost with the waning of the classical world.” \u003cstrong\u003e—Peter Thonemann, \u003cem\u003eThe Sunday Times\u003c\/em\u003e (UK)\u003c\/strong\u003e   \"Nixey has done an impressive job of illuminating an important aspect of late-antique Christianity.” \u003cstrong\u003e—Levi Roach, \u003cem\u003eLiterary Review\u003c\/em\u003e (UK)\u003c\/strong\u003e     “A delightful book about destruction and despair. Nixey combines the authority of a serious academic with the expressive style of a good journalist. She’s not afraid to throw in the odd joke amid sombre tales of desecration. With considerable courage, she challenges the wisdom of history and manages to prevail. Comfortable assumptions about Christian progress come tumbling down.” \u003cstrong\u003e—Gerard de Groot, \u003cem\u003eThe Times \u003c\/em\u003e(UK)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"HarperOne","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44890260504805,"sku":"NP9781328589286","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781328589286.jpg?v=1730232891","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/the-darkening-age-the-christian-destruction-of-the-classical-world-isbn-9781328589286","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}