I was at my sister’s looking through her bookshelves when I saw this book. I just happened to finish all physical TBR books and therefore had no qualms when I saw this. Instead, I thought “a book the size of a brick looks like the kind of book I want to read.”

Millennium is an ambitious book that focuses on the history of Western Europe around the year 1000. After a whirlwind first chapter that chronicles the rise of Christianity, the rest of the book looks at the various countries in Western Europe in the century before and after the year 1000.

As someone who isn’t familiar with this period and geography of history, a lot of it was new (except the part about the Norman Invasion of Britain because I’ve been listening to a podcast that’s covering it). Holland has a very engaging writing style and reading this book is like watching a tl;dr of a lot of information. The book covers what is modern-day France, German, Britain, Spain, Italy, and even a bit of Russia. And while it focuses heavily on the Christian nations, the book also covers the Caliphate of Baghdad as the influence of Islam expanded.

Given the scope of the book, it’s probably not a surprise that when it focuses on particulars, the book focuses on the male rulers (Christian or otherwise). The common people are rarely mentioned, and even Queens don’t occupy significant page space. There’s mention of a council of Queens, and I’m thinking that I would actually like to read a book about these women. In fact, any of the people or kingdoms or time periods could warrant individual books of their own.

Because I was just taking in the book and not actively taking notes, I have to admit that all that’s left after reading is a general impression of what happened around this age. If I’m not wrong, Holland argues that the millennium added a sense of urgency to many rulers, as they predicted the end of the world. I’m not sure how true that is, but it is clear that it was a time of great change.

Overall, this was an interesting book suitable for the general reader, though it can get confusing at times given its scope. If you’re interested in how kingdoms rise and fall, and you want something written in an exciting style, then definitely consider Millennium. I would, if I were interested in this period, want to follow it up with books on specific countries and people, but I can see this working as a good general introduction.