Cotts publishes new book

John D. Cotts, associate professor of history and chair of the history department, has published a new book titled “Europe’s Long Twelfth Century: Order, Anxiety and Adaptation, 1095-1229.” The book was released Nov. 9, 2012 by Palgrave Macmillan. According to the description, between 1095 and 1229, Western Europe confronted a series of alternative cultural possibilities that would fundamentally transform its social structures, its intellectual life and its very identity. It was a period of difficult decisions and anxiety rather than a triumphant “renaissance.” Cotts shows how new social, economic and religious options challenged Europeans to re-imagine their place in the world; provides an overview of political life and detailed examples of the original thought and religious enthusiasm of the time; and presents the Crusades as the century's defining movement.