Everything you know is wrong!

I'm always skeptical about any history book written with the underlying theme that everyone is wrong about what they think really happened.  Usually, that means everyone who really doesn't study history but gets their knowledge from the History Channel, the Movie Channel, or USA Today.  Most historians have a pretty good idea of what we know about this or that period of time - even if they argue about different interpretations of events.  Oh, you have disagreements, and usually those can be traced to the biases and belief systems of the historians in question.  But it's typically not because they just don't know.

I also find books like this can overstate the case, and try to make too much out of a little anecdote here or document there.  Most historians worth their salt know that the picture presented in the popular mindset about the Middle Ages is inaccurate.  It's more in line with a Hollywood fantasy film than accurate history.  Also, this book appears to be written by someone with more interest in science than history.  The fact that the period of time properly falls within the period of the Early Middle Ages, rather than the Dark Ages as the book's title suggests, gives me pause.  Still, I haven't read it, so perhaps it will be a great resource for Medieval Studies.  We'll have to see.

In fact, it could be a good companion to help add to the documentation that our popular perception of the Medieval Period is largely based on myth, fables, and fairy tales.  They weren't everything we are often led to believe, and therefore, even something as over the top as 'everything we know is wrong' can't help but set some of the record straight.