Uncertainty is often assumed to be a modern condition, says Flanagan (history, U. of Adelaide, Australia), and contrasted with confident Victorian values or with the faith of earlier periods. But she finds evidence of doubt in the period 1060-1230, which also witnessed economic and social change and intellectual ferment. She finds that some texts, and some genres, dealt with doubt more than others, and explores how different types of doubt--not always just religious--related to different sorts of texts. She also discusses how the lives and circumstances of particular writers might have influenced their doubt or their writing about it. Distributed in North America by The David Brown Book Co. Annotation ©2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)