As millennium fever mounts, doomsayers once again prophesize that the end of the world is near. The last time the world faced the end of the millennium, it was a chaotic turning point in European history, flavored with a nearly magical sensibility of an apocalyptic age. In "The Last Apocalypse", James Reston, Jr., shows us in rich, vivid historical detail the last time the world faced the end of the millennium.
Cataclysmic changes and widespread upheaval marked the decades around A.D. 1000, much as change continues to rock our world today. The old order was crumbling anti confusing new ideas were gaining hold. Random violence end the bloody victories by the Vikings, Magyars, and Moors convinced many Europeans the apocalypse was upon them. And then, the tide turned -- the Viking gods were dethroned, the shamans of the Magyars massacred, the glorious Moorish caliphate disintegrated, and, finally, the sign of the cross held sway from Spain to Russia.
James Reston, Jr.''s enthralling saga of how the Christian kingdoms converted, Conquered, and slaughtered their way to dominance the turn of the last millennium brings to life unforgettable historical characters who embodied the struggle for the soul of Europe.