Lost to the West

very sweet

Gud

As the continuation of the Roman Empire, even as the Greek language mostly replaced Latin, Byzantium had a long, proud history, even in its own years from about 400 AD to 1453 and its final collapse to Muslim invaders who were intent on taking it for centuries. I've been interested in this story since I wrote a (very good!) college paper on it long ago. It's heroic tale, with many venal characters. I especially value this realm for the way Christianity grew up within its protection, from Italy all the way around to what is now Libya, especially nurturing the Holy Lands of the Levant. I view it as an historical tragedy that Byzantium succumbed so steadily, albeit gradually, to the Mohammedan invasions, enabled as they were by the lack of seriousness and foresight of Byzantine leaders.Byzantine history will someday be presented in detail as the world's longest, most complicated ("byzantine'), extraordinary and all true soap opera. There are many lessons to learn from its rule, successes & failures that still apply.This book tells it well with a very manageable style and unavoidably condensed events and personae. It is easy reading, but with informative footnotes. There is a bit of duplication here and there, but overall this is a book worth embracing and keeping in one's library thereafter.

This book is quite brilliant, facinating and insightful. I have since read more about this region and time to build a better understanding of our world today.One day I will make it to see the great church for myself.

Unfortunately, this book seems to follow in the footsteps of Roman historians pushing a one-sided racist history, in which the Roman empire is the cradle of civilization and the other peoples of Europe are barbaric, cruel, and ignorant. I had hoped to find an objective and well-grounded history of this era but was very disappointed at the continuous disqualifications of the European peoples. The gross one-dimensionality of how they are portrayed makes me unable to trust the objectivity of the rest of the information. It's like reading Roman propaganda that came 1600 years too late.

Geschichtsschreibung as its best zu einer großartigen Zivilisation, die der Westen vergessen hat, obwohl oder weil Konstantinopel den Westen rettete.

Livro muito bem escrito e extremamente interessante, trata de uma parte da história muito pouco contada e desconhecida por grande parte das pessoas. Linguagem bem fácil de ler e escrita dinâmica, sem entrar em detalhes desnecessários. Os capítulos tratam de forma resumida os mais importantes líderes do Império Bizantino, permitindo um overview impressionante de uma etapa importantíssima para a história e cultura do Ocidente. Altamente recomendado não apenas para quem gosta de história, mas também para quem tem curiosidade e busca uma boa leitura.