Engaging and erudite, Catherine Nixey's book offers both a compelling argument and a wonderful eye for vivid detail. It shines a searching spotlight on to some of the murkiest aspects of the early medieval mindset. A triumph. -- Edith Hall, author of <i>The Ancient Greeks: Ten Ways They Shaped the Modern World</i> A devastating book, written in vivid, yet playful prose. Catherine Nixey reveals a level of intolerance and anti-intellectualism which which echoes today's headlines but is centuries old. -- Anita Anand 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. -- Dr Michael Scott Captivating and compulsive, Catherine Nixey's debut challenges our whole understanding of Christianity's earliest years and the medieval society that followed. A remarkable fusion of captivating narrative and acute scholarly judgment, this book marks the debut of a formidable classicist and historian. -- Dan Jones, bestselling author of <i>The Plantagenets</i> 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. -- Peter Frankopan, author of <i>The Silk Road</i> Clever, compelling ... Readers raised in the milky Anglican tradition will be surprised to learn of the savagery of the early saints and their sledgehammer-swinging followers ... exceptionally well written. Spectator -- Thomas W. Hodgkinson * Spectator * Nixey has done an impressive job of illuminating an
important aspect of late-antique Christianity. -- Levi Roach * Literary Review * This book uncovers what was lost when Christianity won.... 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. * The Times * As Catherine Nixey points out in her vivid and important new book, the idea of the widespread persecution of Christians is a product of the Church's marketing and recruitment techniques... Nixey is a funny, lively, readable guide through this dark world of religious oppression. She wisely insists at the start of her book that this account of cultural violence should not be read as an attack on those who are "impelled by their Christian faith to do many, many good things". It is instead a reminder that "monotheism" (or, one could say, religion in general and Christianity in particular) can be used for "terrible ends". -- Emily Wilson * New Statesman * 'With passion, wit and thunderous eloquence, Nixey throws everything she has against the bishops, monks and Christian emperors of late antiquity ... 'The Darkening Age rattles along at a tremendous pace, and Nixey brilliantly evokes all that was lost with the waning of the classical world. * The Sunday Times * Pugnacious and energetically written * The Tablet * Sizzling, scintillating -- Books of the Year * Spectator * Catherine Nixey's superb The Darkening Age shows early Christians as bad as Isis. Audible edn out today. As a connoisseur of audio books, I know quality of narrator hugely affects understanding. I'm biased but Lalla Ward's reading is outstanding. Every subtly-modulated word tells. -- Richard Dawkins Nixey makes the fundamental point that while we lionize Christian culture for preserving works of learning, sponsoring exquisite art and adhering to an ethos of 'love thy neighbor,' the early church was in fact a master of anti-intellectualism, iconoclasm and mortal prejudice -- Bettany Hughes * New York Times * We are accustomed to stories of Christians martyred by pagans, but Nixey reverses the narrative, describing in great detail the desecrations and destruction Christians wreaked upon pagans and classical civilization. -- 10 New Books We Recommend This Week * New York Times *