Norman F. Cantor – författare

"Alexander''s behavior was conditioned along certain lines -- heroism, courage, strength, superstition, bisexuality, intoxication, cruelty. He bestrode Europe and Asia like a supernatural figure."

In this succinct portrait of Alexander the Great, distinguished scholar and historian Norman Cantor illuminates the personal life and military conquests of this most legendary of men. Cantor draws from the major writings of Alexander''s contemporaries combined with the most recent psychological and cultural studies to show Alexander as he was -- a great figure in the ancient world whose puzzling personality greatly fueled his military accomplishments.

He describes Alexander''s ambiguous relationship with his father, Philip II of Macedon; his oedipal involvement with his mother, the Albanian princess Olympias; and his bisexuality. He traces Alexander''s attempts to bridge the East and West, the Greek and Persian worlds, using Achilles, hero of the Trojan War, as his model. Finally, Cantor explores Alexander''s view of himself in relation to the pagan gods of Greece and Egypt.

More than a biography, Norman Cantor''s Alexander the Great is a psychological rendering of a man of his time.

''''No better explanation of medievalism is available to the general reader.'''' --Booklist

A revised and expanded edition of Norman Cantor''s splendidly detailed and lively history of the Middle Ages, containing more than 30 percent new material from the original edition.

Bestselling author Norman Cantor delivers this compact but magisterial survey of the ancient world—from the birth of Sumerian civilization around 3500 B.C. in the Tigris-Euphrates valley (present-day Iraq) to the fall of the Roman Empire in A.D. 476. In Antiquity, Cantor covers such subjects as Classical Greece, Judaism, the founding of Christianity, and the triumph and decline of Rome.

In this fascinating and comprehensive analysis, the author explores social and cultural history, as well as the political and economic aspects of his narrative. He explains leading themes in religion and philosophy and discusses the environment, population, and public health. With his signature authority and insight, Cantor highlights the great books and ideas of antiquity that continue to influence culture today.

INVENTING THE MIDDLE AGES

The Lives, Works, and Ideas of the Great Medievalists of the Twentieth Century

In this ground-breaking work, Norman Cantor explains how our current notion of the Middle Ages-with its vivid images of wars, tournaments, plagues, saints and kings, knights and ladies-was born in the twentieth century. The medieval world was not simply excavated through systematic research. It had to be conceptually created: It had to be invented, and this is the story of that invention.

Norman Cantor focuses on the lives and works of twenty of the great medievalists of this century, demonstrating how the events of their lives, and their spiritual and emotional outlooks, influenced their interpretations of the Middle Ages. Cantor makes their scholarship an intensely personal and passionate exercise, full of color and controversy, displaying the strong personalities and creative minds that brought new insights about the past.

A revolution in academic method, this book is a breakthrough to a new way of teaching the humanities and historiography, to be enjoyed by student and general public alike. It takes an immense body of learning and transmits it so that readers come away fully informed of the essentials of the subject, perceiving the interconnection of medieval civilization with the culture of the twentieth century and having had a good time while doing it! This is a riveting, entertaining, humorous, and learned read, compulsory for anyone concerned about the past and future of Western civilization.

This book, first published in 1970, examines significant protest movements of the twentieth century and looks at the similarities and differences between the various dissents and rebellions. Beginning with the mood of weariness and dissatisfaction with the old regimes at the turn of the century, it discusses the emergence of protest as an ideal, a viable force for reform. From radical unionism, it traces the thread through bohemianism, international communism and anticolonialism in the twenties; fascism and Nazism and protest as a way of life up to 1945; the Afro-Asian and early civil rights movements of the fifties; and the agitating students and revolutionary movements of the sixties.

This book, first published in 1970, examines significant protest movements of the twentieth century and looks at the similarities and differences between the various dissents and rebellions. Beginning with the mood of weariness and dissatisfaction with the old regimes at the turn of the century, it discusses the emergence of protest as an ideal, a viable force for reform. From radical unionism, it traces the thread through bohemianism, international communism and anticolonialism in the twenties; fascism and Nazism and protest as a way of life up to 1945; the Afro-Asian and early civil rights movements of the fifties; and the agitating students and revolutionary movements of the sixties.

Alexander''s behavior was conditioned along certain lines—heroism, courage, strength, superstition, bisexuality, intoxication, cruelty. He bestrode Europe and Asia like a supernatural figure.

In this succinct portrait of Alexander the Great, distinguished scholar and historian Norman Cantor draws on the major writings of Alexander''s contemporaries as well as the most recent psychological and cultural studies to illuminate this most legendary of men—a great figure in the ancient world whose puzzling personality greatly fueled his military accomplishments. Cantor describes Alexander''s ambiguous relationship with his father, Philip II of Macedon; his oedipal involvement with his mother, the Albanian princess Olympias; and his bisexuality. He traces Alexander''s attempts to bridge the East and West, the Greek and Persian worlds, using Achilles, hero of the Trojan War, as his model. Finally, Cantor explores Alexander''s view of himself in relation to the pagan gods of Greece and Egypt.

More than a biography, Cantor''s Alexander the Great is a psychological rendering of a man of his time.