regine pernoud-those terrible middle ages debunking the myths-ignatius press(2000)

When the average person thinks about the "Middle Ages", that period from about 500 to 1500 AD commonly called the "Dark Ages", they usually have visions of gore, torture, famine and poverty. Is that a correct understanding?Régine Pernoud, the famed French historian and archivist (1909-1999), writes that it is not. The author of numerous books about the Middle Ages, including widely acclaimed books about Joan of Arc and other women of the period, Pernoud is not afraid to express her anger and frustration with the lack of accurate teaching about the Middle Ages. She causticially notes that the "Middle Ages is privileged material: one can say what one wants about it with the quasi-certitude of never being contradicted." Although originally published in 1977 and intended for a French audience, "Those Terrible Middle Ages!" is both a helpful introduction to the real Middle Ages and a fine commentary on the importance of a sound education in history, something many Americans would be all the better for having.