As any reader of this blog knows, I love history. Curiously, I had never read a book or studied an article about Charlemagne. I knew of him, of course, and I knew he was influential in shaping European nations. But beyond that … pretty much nothing.

Thus I picked up Charlemagne (Caravel Books) by Richard Winston. This is a great book for history lovers. Winston tells the full story of Charlemagne and how he unified Europe, shaped the Catholic Church, influenced the nearby Byzantine Empire, and invigorated the arts. At times a bit too admiring of Charlemagne, the book still tells a story of an amazing man who reflected what we today call a Renaissance Man (and keep in mind that Charlemagne lived hundreds of years before the Renaissance).

After reading this book you can see how Europe became what it is today (not smart-aleck comments here, please…I mean this in the positive sense). Charlemagne built roads, encouraged agriculture, spread Christianity (sometimes at the point of a sword), limited the unchecked authority of the Pope (and vice-versa) … the list goes on. Modern nation states were partially the result of his vision for Europe.

Definitely worth reading if you are a history buff. Perhaps a bit too dry and detailed if you are not. But if you want to truly understand Europe, you need to know more about Charlemagne even if he did die 1200 years ago. And this would be a good book to read for that.