In 1188, the Benedictine monk Gervase of Canterbury wrote that, compared to the plodding chronicler, "the historian proceeds diffusely and elegantly." On the strength of her writing style and her sophisticated, sensitive deployment of prodigious knowledge, Caroline Bynum is surely a historian by Gervase"s standards... She provides an encouraging model for both historical endeavor and the management of an increasingly fragmented modern existence." Christopher Hughes , Voice Literary Supplement