The Sea in the Middle/Texts from the Middle
The Sea in the Middle: The Mediterranean World, 650-1650
by Thomas E. Burman, Brian A. Catlos, and Mark D. Meyerson
Berkeley: University of California Press, 2022 • $49.95
The Sea in the Middle presents an original and revisionist narrative of the development of the medieval west from late antiquity to the dawn of modernity. This textbook is uniquely centered on the Mediterranean and emphasizes the role played by peoples and cultures of Africa, Asia, and Europe in an age when Christians, Muslims, and Jews of various denominations engaged with each other in both conflict and collaboration. It is intended as complete textbook and reader set for medieval and early modern Europe, Islamic world and Mediterranean courses, and is suitable as a supplementary textbook for thematic courses and surveys of pre-Modern art and literature.
Key features:
• Fifteen-chapter structure to aid classroom use
• Each chapter contains a selection of “artifacts” - gatherings of texts, objects, buildings and interpretive essays which illuminate key themes and provide the basis for in-class discussion, and starting points for student research projects
• Dynamic visuals, including 190 color photos and 20 color maps
The Sea in the Middle and its sourcebook companion, Texts from the Middle, pair together to provide a framework and materials that guide students through this complex but essential history—one that will appeal to the diverse student bodies of today.
Table of Contents • Request an Examination copy • full information from UC Press
From the back cover:
"Written in a clear and engaging style and covering thematically the whole span of Mediterranean history, this is an exemplary textbook, as well as a capacious and engaging example of what three masterful historians can do in writing a 'total' history of the Mediterranean. An extraordinary achievement to be read by students and scholars alike."
—Teofilo Ruiz, Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus of History, University of California, Los Angeles
"By focusing on the Mediterranean writ large, this powerful and original book upends traditional views of medieval and early modern history to offer a compelling new master narrative of the millennium from 650 to 1650. The authors reveal the Mediterranean as an integrated space that extended far beyond this sea’s shores to involve Muslims, Christians, Jews and others in complex patterns of conflict and cooperation. This highly readable tour-de-force of synthesis and analysis is bound to become a classic".
—Amy G. Remensnyder, Professor of History, Brown University
"In this ground-breaking work, Thomas E. Burman, Brian A. Catlos, and Mark D. Meyerson have taken care to provide a guide to the complexities of the medieval and early modern Mediterranean that will surprise, delight and illuminate. Teachers and students will be forever grateful."
—Teresa Shawcross, Associate Professor of History and Hellenic Studies, Princeton University
See also:
• Thomas Burman interviewed on the on the podcast “Meeting in the Middle Ages” on 5 April 2023
• Stream: “Integrating European and Islamic History in the Medieval Mediterranean”; 22 February 2023, a panel discussion moderated by John Esposito (Alwaleed Center for Muslim- Christian Understanding (ACMCU), Georgetown University)
• “Teaching the Pre-Modern as Mediterranean: The Sea in the Middle & Texts from the Middle” - a panel discussion webinar (22 October 2022: watch or list here (Passcode: i0PWMjp+) or on Youtube.
• Evan Zarkadas interviews Thomas Burman and Brian Catlos for the New Books Network (21 October 2022)
• “Teaching the Medieval through The Sea in the Middle” UC Press Blog (24 August 2022)
• “Integrating Islamic and European history – The Sea in the Middle and the new Middle Ages” UC Press Blog (30 November 2021)
Errata / suggestion form: use this form to alert the authors regarding errata or to submit suggestions/comments
Texts from the Middle: Documents from the Mediterranean World, 650–1650
Edited by Thomas E. Burman, Brian A. Catlos, and Mark D. Meyerson
Berkeley: University of California Press, 2022 • $34.95
Texts from the Middle is a companion primary source reader to the textbook, The Sea in the Middle. It can be used alone or in conjunction with the textbook, providing an original history of the Middle Ages that places the Mediterranean at the geographical center of the study of the time period ca. 650–1650.
Building on the textbook’s unique approach, these sources center on the Mediterranean and emphasize the role played by peoples and cultures of Africa, Asia, and Europe in an age when Christians, Muslims, and Jews of various denominations engaged with each other in both conflict and collaboration. The supplementary reader mirrors the main text’s fifteen-chapter structure, providing five to seven gatherings of sources per chapter. Selections are brief enough to use in the classroom and to allow students to quickly zero in on essential themes.
Table of Contents • Request an Examination copy • full information from UC Press
From the back cover:
"Brilliantly contextualized and judiciously selected, this collection of documents is a magnificent and indispensable companion to The Sea in the Middle. The extensive number of primary sources provides a vivid road map to the Mediterranean’s complex historical and cultural history between ca. 650 and 1650. An important achievement and a major contribution to Mediterranean studies."
—Teofilo Ruiz, Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus of History, University of California, Los Angeles
"This superb selection of texts offers students an invaluable first-hand encounter with how and why the Mediterranean was such a shaping force during this millennium of history. Texts from the Middle vividly brings to life a diversity of peoples from across the Mediterranean world, ranging from violent border lords, proud queens, officious bureaucrats, energetic business women, hopeful migrants, fiery polemicists and enslaved Africans to disappointed brides, lazy students, and artful tax dodgers."
—Amy G. Remensnyder, Professor of History, Brown University
Both texts pair together to provide a framework and materials that guide students through this complex but essential history—one that will appeal to the diverse student bodies of today.
About the Authors
• Thomas E. Burman is Professor of History at University of Notre Dame. He is a scholar of Christian-Muslim-Jewish intellectual and cultural history in the medieval Mediterranean. His book Reading the Qur’an in Latin Christendom was awarded the Jacques Barzun Prize in Cultural History.
• Brian A. Catlos is Professor of Religious Studies at University of Colorado Boulder. He works on Christian-Muslim-Jewish relations in the premodern Mediterranean. His most recent book Kingdoms of Faith: A New History of Islamic Spain is being published in eight languages and as an audiobook.
• Mark D. Meyerson is Professor in the Department of History and Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of Toronto. He works on Christian-Muslim-Jewish relations in the premodern Mediterranean and on the history of violence. His book A Jewish Renaissance in Fifteenth-Century Spain was runner-up for the National Jewish Book Award, USA.
The Sea in the Middle was produced with support from the Mediterranean Seminar and the CU Mediterranean Studies Group.