I decided to use this book as a companion reader in a course in American history this year. This series of essays, which consist primarily of topics in social history, are an excellent complement to our very traditional textbook, which stresses political and diplomatic history. The authors of the essays are top names in the field, and the student response to the essays has been fantastic. I highly recommend this book as a teaching aide!

The Social Fabric presents a detailed array of readings insocial history for any United States History course. The readingsspecifically encourage two main revelations: U.S. History has many more interesting stories than the textbooks reveal and the historian's craft is much more complex than many students admit. The anthology is entirely engaging with details about daily life and customs. This book makes great general reading and should be required for all U.S. History courses.

The text is a bit dated, I will be the first to admit, though so is the subject matter! However, the book is comprehensive and thorough, leaves out nothing of importance, and gives a good and balanced picture of not only the "what" but the "why" of medieval thinking. If you are an old pro at Aquinas et al, this is a good historical overview to what you already know, maybe in a more concise and intelligent format than you are used to seeing in books on medieval philosophy. If you are a student, and especially if you are not all that familiar with what is going on with medieval thinkers, I can hardly recommend this short history any more highly.

I have little to add to the three excellent recommendations I reproduce below:

"What is most striking about the entire book is its just perspective and its fine balance between scholarly prudence and philosoohical suggestiveness in the presentation of the ideas and problems distinctive of medieval philosophy. . . . As a sketch of medieval philosophy it qualifies as something of a classic."--Philosophical Review

"The author carefully traces the influence of Greek philosophy and of the three great reigious traditions . . . on the great medieval scholastics. Professor Weinberg's book is a real contribution toward a sympathetic grasp of a tradition which he tells us must be retained and reexamined incessantly if we are to learn form the past."--Review of Metaphysics

"The style is straightforward and clear; the content is judiciously selected; the interpretations are intelligent, impartial, scholarly."--Speculum