This was truly an astonishing achievement and a labor of love for historian Aryeh Grabois, who completed this 750-page, double columned encyclopedia entirely on his own. There is much to love about it: well-written entries that end with one or several excellent recommendations for further reading, cross-referencing, and color plates and copious illustrations.

But what really stands out is the author's clear vision that medieval civilization, meaning medieval European civilization, was the product of many and disparate influences from around the world and from other faiths. He casts his net widely. There are entries on China and India, and many more on leaders and thinkers from the Arab world. The intersection of Islamic, Jewish and Christian worlds are described from many perspectives; art, science, philosophy, religious movements, and even within people: the case, for example of the assimilating Pietroleone family who produced the "Jewish pope" Anacletus II. If I have a minor quibble, it is the fact that Mayan art is profiled, but pre-Columbian civilization is otherwise ignored. Frankly, I would have left Mayan art out for consistency's sake.

I have had the pleasure of owning this volume for more than 20 years and continue to relish the insights it offers. For example, on witchcraft, we have this: "Up to the 13th century witches, who prepared love potions for knights and members of the aristocracy, were referred to without negative connotations in the medieval literature. In many cases these witches were considered a marginal group of society, like the hermits. However, where witchcraft was seen as challenging, directly or indirectly, the authority of the church, it was condemned as heresy."