Surprisingly, a history book one can read from beginning to finish that reads like a novel, while retaining enough factual information to be an evergreen reference book. Not that the one function doesn't intrude upon the other once in a while--there are pages where you will hunger for more details (and isn't this how we determine the next books we want to read?) and other pages where one's eyes begin to glaze over (all those Leo's, Matthew's, Constantine's and Nicholas' ... ARGH!). But a book in which I was sorely sorry to turn the last page.

I confess I am a JJ Norwich fan and have read (or am currently reading) several of his other books. (You know the question about whom you would like to be seated next to at a dinner party? He is my number one choice.) Although not trained as an academician (which appears to have been of concern to some readers), he is one of the best historians I have read. His sheer love of the subject is totally engaging, and is clearly based upon decades of research, and reading, and walking the very lanes, and visiting many of the locales that played a role in this rich history. Moreover, despite being the condensation of three large volumes, Norwich still managed to include many of those fascinating little tales and facts that add just the right punch to the text and stick in your memory. (The maps and dynastic charts are also especially helpful and I copied several to tuck into other reference books.)

If you have any reason to read about the history of Byzantium and its 1123 years and 18 days (330-1453) of wars and arguments, not only with its neighbours but also within its ruling families, wait no more. A treat awaits you.

A layman's history of Byzantium, it covers over a thousand years in its 360 or so pages if text along with a hundred pages or so of notes, family trees and other graphics. Like most empires, it had endless problems with succession, though no worse than Tang China when looking at average reigning years per emperor. Early on, the chariot teams Blue and Green were politically important, very bizarre! Religion was a complicated matter, the endless Christian intolerance towards any variation from the "True Faith (tm)" was one important cause of Byzantium's fall. Add to that either inadequate administration and or poor military organization and it's a wonder it lasted so long. There are illustrations, but in my paperback edition they are fairly poor black and white reproductions.

Since this is a abridged version of his longer work it deals mostly with the immediate imperial family but there are some delightful bit players such as Sikelgaita, a warrior princess.

Why waste your time reading Game of Thrones when you can read about the real deal? An excellent read.

P.S. A nice fantasy duology based on Byzantium is Guy Gavriel Kay's The Sarantine Mosaic.

This is an excellent history of Byzantium. It is well researched and the writing is conversational. If there is a problem, it is that is that times it is too conversational for a serious history (that is a critiques shared with many other authors).So you have the beautiful, the ugly and the cruel. This probably was one of the bloodiest times in history. Life was worthless and there were constant wars. The importance is that civilization continued after the fall of Rome. This history is another broad overview and not an "in depth" analysis of any particular period.

I recognize that my rating is completely influenced by my bias as a fan of Byzantine history, but that aside, this book was more than I could have wished for. The ~1000 year history of the Byzantine empire is a seemingly untapped goldmine of stories: palace intrigue, battles, diplomacy, failure, redemption. Though the Byzantine empire is a continuation of the Roman empire we all know and love, it forged a uniquely "Byzantine" identity in the centuries following the fall of the western half of the Roman empire. With history thus spanning that period up to the 1450s, the Byzantines are one of the few (or only) empires to stretch from the ancient era to the renaissance. For those even mildly interested in ancient, medieval, and renaissance history, this book is a treat.