The Kindle edition of "The Dilemma of Arnulf of Lisieux" was formatted from a photographic copy of the original, which was published by Indiana University Press in 1990. (I was going to say that it felt like I was talking about an earlier century. Then I realized it WAS an earlier century!)
What's even more amazing: all the endnotes, diagrams, and photographs from the original hardback are fully functional in this electronic edition -- no easy feat. I haven't issued it in any other electronic format; the logistics are simply too complicated. But those of you who read e-books know that there are Kindle apps available for all your other readers, so you'll still be able to read it if you like, even on your desk computer. And since it will only be available in a Kindle edition, I've listed it with the Kindle Select program. Amazon Prime members and KOLL users can borrow it for free, if you're just curious. And for this week (March 14 through 18), it is free for all who would like a copy. Order here.
Anyway, one of the benefits of being a medievalist is that our subject matter doesn't really get "out of date" very quickly. So I'm hoping that people who are still interested in the "long 12th century" will still find much of interest and usefulness in this historical monograph. For academics, it comes with full endnotes, extensive bibliography, four original maps and sixteen architectural photos of the early Gothic cathedral that Arnulf commissioned in the small town of Lisieux in Normandy.
For the layman (non-historian) and recreational reader, it's a story of crusades, warfare, and clashes between church and state, along with elements of incest, adultery, murder, embezzlement, family power struggles, evil popes, sinful kings, and a queen who outsmarts them all. What more could you ask?
And for the old-timers among you -- if you remember this book from 1990, when I was a brash new PhD with my first book and it was being discussed and sold at medieval conferences, I'd appreciate a brief comment left on its Amazon website. I've posted little blurbs from the major historical journals, but nothing helps a book more than having somebody say, "Hey, this is a good book. I remember it when . . . .. . ."
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