A Cultural History of Memory in the Middle Ages

Book excerpt: "How has understanding of memory evolved over the past 2,500 years? How has our collective memory been influenced and expressed by politics, culture, philosophy and science? In a work that spans over 2,500 years, these ambitious questions are addressed by 64 experts, each contributing their overview of a theme applied to a period in history. The volumes situate our understanding of memory within a variety of historical contexts, looking to art and science alike to determine how it has changed in Western society since Antiquity. Individual volume editors ensure the cohesion of the whole, and to make it as easy as possible to use, chapter titles are identical across each of the volumes. This gives the choice of reading about a specific period in one of the volumes, or following a theme across history by reading the relevant chapter in each of the six. The six volumes cover: 1. - Antiquity (800 BCE - 500 CE); 2. - Middle Ages (500 - 1450); 3. - Early Modern Age (1450 - 1700) ; 4. - Eighteenth Century (1700 - 1800); 5. - Nineteenth Century (1800 - 1900); 6. - Long Twentieth Century (1900 - 2000+). Themes (and chapter titles) are: Politics; Time and Space; Media and Technology; Science and Education; Philosophy; Religion and History; High Culture and Popular Culture; Society; Remembering and Forgetting. The page extent is approximately 1,728 pp with c. 300 illustrations. Each volume opens with Notes on Contributors, a series preface and an introduction, and concludes with Notes, Bibliography and an Index. The Cultural Histories Series A Cultural History of Memory is part of The Cultural Histories Series. Titles are available both as printed hardcover sets for libraries needing just one subject or preferring a one-off purchase and tangible reference for their shelves, or as part of a fully-searchable digital library available to institutions by annual subscription or on perpetual access (see www.bloomsburyculturalhistory.com)"--