About

A blue medieval pattern with text in a medieval font overlaying it. The text reads The Bright Ages — A new history of Medieval Europe — Matthew Gabriele and David M. Perry.
The Bright Ages
Cover of Oathbreakers
Oathbreakers

David M. Perry is a journalist and historian. He is the co-author of Oathbreakers and The Bright Ages: A New History of Medieval Europe, both from HarperCollins. Publishers Weekly is calling Oathbreakers “An enlightening portrait of the medieval mindset” while The Boston Globe said The Bright Ages was “incandescent and ultimately intoxicating.”

Over the last few years, Perry’s work on history, parenting, disability, and politics has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Nation, The Daily Beast, Smithsonian, Slate, CNN, and many others.

See a selection of Perry’s published pieces here.

Perry was a professor of Medieval History at Dominican University from 2006-2017. His scholarly work focuses on Venice, the Crusades, and the Mediterranean World. He’s the author of Sacred Plunder: Venice and the Aftermath of the Fourth Crusade (Penn State University Press, 2015). Now he works for the University of Minnesota, convincing students that studying history is good for them and good for their careers (it is!).

Perry and his wife Shannon, a food scientist, live in the Twin Cities area. Together, they are raising two children, one of whom has Down syndrome. Perry also plays in a Midwestern Irish Rock band – Purgatory Creek. Lately, he’s obsessed with brisket and ribs and going fishing.

Follow David Perry on Twitter and Facebook. His Instagram mostly consists of pictures of food and cats, and sometimes children.

Email him – lollardfish@gmail.com – for booking inquiries (writing or speaking), interviews, reviews of products and publications, or just to chat. Phone works too: (612) 396-4837, but don’t try and pitch  stories over the phone unless you have no other choice. Send email.

An archive of all of Perry’s public writing and interviews can be found here.

All views expressed are solely David Perry’s.