A personal view by Kenneth Clark

"The gothic world, the world of chivalry, courtesy, and romance; a world in which serious things were done with a sense of play-where even war and theology could become a sort of game; and when architecture reached a point of extravagance unequalled in history. And yet these centuries produced some of the greatest spirits in the whole history of man, amongst them St Francis of Assisi and Dante."
Kenneth Clark journeys from a castle on the Loire, through the hill towns of Tuscany and Umbria to the cathedral baptistry at Pisa, as he explores the aspirations and achievements of the later Middle Ages in France and Italy.

"Sir Kenneth Clark's Civilisation is a major work of modern art itself and as such will stand the test of time" (Daily Express)
"The quality communicated by this series, certainly as strongly as the information, is this feeling of civilised delight. It's a long time since TV presented such an up-beat series. It leaves you quite gratified to be a member of the human race" (Oxford Mail)
(For books see p 13)