The Edge of the World:
A Cultural History of the North Sea and the Transformation of Europe
by Michael Pye
2014/403 pages (K)
Rating:  8.5  / European history

Oh I have been gone from reading nonfiction history for so long I think I forgot what a good history book feels like.  And it took me several weeks to finish this book – very dense –

Pye starts out with an introduction which leads the reader into a discussion of the importance of  the coast of northern western Europe in the Medieval (6th century to 16th centuries) and still is, but also how changeable the area has been for hundreds of years.

There’s a LOT of detailed material written up in historical essays but it’s still basically an overview of topics on which whole books have been written.  This is a seriously broad brush book and sometimes the brush is broader than the evidence and perhaps some over-generalizations  are made.  The North Sea is the connecting thread between the essays but it seems to also be very concerned with the changing economic situation of Northern Europe during Medieval Times  from the end of Roman occupation  to the gilded age of Amsterdam, the printing press and the seeds of the Reformation.   >>>>MORE>>>>