Description
The first book in English to blend history and archaeology for a period of history currently receiving much scholarly attention, East Central and Eastern Europe in the Early Middle Ages examines key problems of the early medieval history of Eastern Europe, with particular reference to society, state, and the conversion to Christianity, and the diverse ways in which these aspects have been approached in the historiography of the region. The included essays examine the documentary and archaeological evidence of early medieval Europe in an attempt to assess its importance in understanding the construction of cultural identity and the process of political mobilization for the rise of the states. The book addresses an audience of historians, archaeologists, anthropologists, and linguists with an interest in the history of Eastern Europe.
About the Author
Florin Curta is Associate Professor of Medieval History and Archaeology, University of Florida. His previous book is The Making of the Slavs: History and Archaeology of the Lower Danube Region, ca. 500-700, which won the Herbert Baxter Adams Book Award of the American Historical Association.
Reviews
"This volume constitutes a persuasive argument in favor of treating East Central European and Balkan history together. Curta has thus more than adequately followed up his award-winning The Making of the Slavs: History and Archaeology of the Lower Danube Region, ca. 500-700 (2001)."
-Charles J. Halperin, American Historical Review
"Because these articles reflect the latest views on the history of this region by leading professional historians, this concise volume will prove valuable to scholars and advanced students needing access to this complex material in English."
-Cosmin Popa-Gorjanu, History
"Curta's aim in editing the present collection is clearly to reinforce the need for western archaeologists and historians to refocus attitudes and approaches to the ways in which they use and interpret the Middle Ages in the east. The book achieves that aim and should be read by all those working on western Europe as it provides alternative perspectives on early medieval societies which must be appreciated and understood in order to situate developments in the west. This reviewer hopes that the next generation of major archaeological and historical syntheses will incorporate eastern Europe in a way that recent major works, such as McCormick's Origins of the European Economy, and Wickham's Framing the Early Middle Ages, have neglected to do."
-Andrew Reynolds, Institute of Archaeology, University College London, Early Medieval Europe
"All the chapters contain extensive scholarly apparatus...This book therefore serves a dual purpose, as a sampling of recent research on the history of eastern and east central Europe in the early Middle Ages and as an invaluable scholarly resource."
-Jean W. Sedlar, Slavic Review
Winner: American Library Association (ALA) Choice Outstanding Academic Title
* ALA Choice Outstanding Academic Title *Book Information
ISBN 9780472114986
Author Florin Curta
Format Hardback
Page Count 400
Imprint The University of Michigan Press
Publisher The University of Michigan Press
