Devil's Historians

Amy S. Kaufman is a scholar of medieval studies and popular culture.Paul B. Sturtevant is Editor in Chief of The Public Medievalist and a Visitor Research Specialist at The Smithsonian Institution.

"This is an important overview of both extremism in society today and its use of medieval symbols, folktales, and rewritten history by groups to justify everything from degradation of women to racism to the arbitrary construct of two genders."- Wendy J. Turner (Medievally Speaking ) "With a strong and well-argued thesis, supported with plentiful details, this book should be read by those who teach medieval studies as a guide to the political minefield their area has become."- S. Morillo, Wabash College (Choice) "For anyone keen to know how medievalist myths are used as weapons, this book is the place to start. It is also a mine of information and analysis for anyone wishing to research more deeply into the dangerous uses of medievalism."- Helen Dell, The University of Melbourne (Parergon) "The Devil's Historians is an accessible and quick introduction to many of the problems we confront in studying the medieval past in the twenty-first century, laying out both the stakes and some possible avenues of countering the use of history to support hate."- Matthew Gabriele, Virginia Tech (The Public Historian)

• Acknowledgments Introduction: Weaponizing History1. The Middle Ages: Foundational Myths2. Nationalism and Nostalgia3. The "Clash of Civilizations"4. White (Supremacist) Knights5. Knights in Shining Armor and Damsels in Distress6. Medievalism and Religious ExtremismEpilogue: The Future of the Medieval PastNotesFurther Reading