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The Modern Scholar: The Anglo-Saxon World

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The Modern Scholar: The Anglo-Saxon World

By: Prof. Michael D. C. Drout
Narrated by: Michael D. C. Drout
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About this listen

Had the Angles and Saxons not purposefully migrated to the isles of the Britons and brought with them their already-well-developed use of language, Angelina Jolie may never have appeared in the movie Beowulf.

Professor Michael D.C. Drout is at his best when lecturing on the fascinating history, language, and societal adaptations of the Anglo-Saxons. He not only presents their storytelling abilities using their own words; he does so in their own voice - the incredibly melodious Old English.

©2009 Michael D.C. Drout (P)2009 Recorded Books, LLC Europe Thought-Provoking
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I had previously listened to Professor Drout's lectures on science-fiction, which I had only moderately enjoyed after the lecture reaches the 1970's (see my review for more details). But I did nonetheless get the another set of lectures from Professor Drout because he is such a wonderful lecturer with great delivery and an excellent sense of humour. I was hoping that another, more historical, topic would bring out the best in him, and I was not disappointed. The set of lectures on The Anglo-Saxon World covers Britain from 500 AD until 1066 AD (the norman Conquest) with an excellent additional lecture on how the Anglo-Saxon concepts remained important up to the time of Henry the Eight. The lecture on the decades before 1066 and the lecture on the use of Anglo-Saxon as a political football under Henry the Eight are excellent (and stupendously funny at times). I am not a literature student and I was a bit worried during the introduction as it seemed that the lectures would focus more on literature than history, but my fears were soon calmed. I even enjoyed the 3 lectures on "pure" literature (lectures 9-10-11) because they stressed the psychology of people living in those times. So, even if you are not a literature geek, don't skip those 3 lectures. The only aspect that is supremely annoying in this lecture set is that each lecture begins with a long section where Professor Drout reads an excerpt in Anglo-Saxon which probably only 100 persons on Earth understand. These readings are followed by the English translation but they got really irritating, mostly as I am guessing that no one really know how Anglo-Saxon sounded, so were are not learning much from Professor Drout's attempts. Still, a minor quibble. Heartily recommended.

Entertaining, Fun and Informative

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This guy really knows his stuff.
He's an expert on linguistics, etymology as well as Anglo Saxon Christianity.
His enthusiasm is contagious and his effort to learn and speak Old English Anglo Saxon is commendable.
I enjoyed his introduction to each chapter in Anglo Saxon and the ability to begin to understand more as you get used to it.

Some of the chapters might be a little too niche for those just interested in the general history of the era and the latter part felt as a consequence a little rushed.

The course would be better called:
"The Anglo-Saxons: Language, Religion & literature"

But learning how central the early spread of Christianity was to the development of English culture, literature, law, education and politics and the bedrock of its future power on the world stage into the modern era, is an eye opener.

Without its arrival, it could have resulted in Britain just being a small quiet backwater of North West Europe, with no notable achievements right up to the present day.

Christianity became more powerful than the Roman empire, in terms of geographical reach, membership, advocates and devotion by the 700's. To be central to that was to guarantee a nations future power on the global stage.

Superb knowledge and enthusiasm from the author

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This is a grate way to learn about the Anglo-Saxon world . And the making of England .
It has been ok to .learn Irish , Scottish or Welsh.
But it not ok to learn English , from Sutton Hoo to Beowulf .

Grate way to study old English . Anglo-Saxon

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Absolutely fantastic. Prof. Drouts enthusiasm for the era really shines through and makes this a very interesting and enjoyable listen.

10/10

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This is a great listen! So nice to hear an unbiased account of Anglo saxon history based on historical text, archeology and language development. so often this subject is misinterpreted and misrepresented, often deliberately. This book is a great way to get a logical, rational and accurate grasp of Anglo saxon language, culture and history.

Awesome unbiased account

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