Together with knights, kings, and peasants, monks are central to our images of medieval society. Milis undertakes a reassessment of how influential monasticism was to the rest of their world, particularly to that 95% of the population which, through poverty and illiteracy, has left us no indication of their outlook on life. Unfortunately, Milis limits his study to "monasticism," by which he means the model of religious life separated from the world. Such an ideal is by definition unable to influence society at large, and the plentiful evidence for interaction between monasteries and society is chalked up by Milis not to "monasticism" but to failures to achieve the ideal in practice.