Customer Reviews

A Short History of Byzantium

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Living, quite literally, only a few miles from the Alamo, reading about the Siege of Constantinople was particularly poignant. What an Empire. It's name, Byzantine, has become a description for all that is seethingly, insidously, complicated. Byzantium represented the best and worst of being human: incredible art, touching piety, hypocrisy unparallelled, heroism unmatched, murderous Emperors, jaw dropping architecture, and political intrigue. All leading up to that day in May when it all fell forever. Lord Norwich brings it all back. Will have to get the three volumes now!

Accolades to Lord Norwich for his interesting account of the "Eastern Empire". The author does a fantastic job of blending strong historical research with interesting snippets of Byzantine folk lore. This is a must read for anyone who cherishes history and good writing.

Norwich's "Short History of Byzantium" is a distillation of his three-volume history of the Byzantine Empire. I've read the larger work, and can say that this abbreviated volume captures, for the most part, the essence of Norwich's trilogy: the color, adventure, and insight are all here, along with a tremendous sense of style, leavened with wit. For anyone who is unfamiliar with the empire that emerged from the eastern half of the old Roman Empire, centered at Constantinople, this is the perfect introductory volume. Best of all, the author, like Gibbon, is a wonderful story-teller: a faithful adherence to a fabulous tale of power and empire, punctuated by the most unlikely incidents, narrated in a skilled and, where warranted, jaundiced style -- what more could one ask? Reading the history of this thousand-year-old empire - an empire that produced unparalleled works of artistic beauty - an empire that protected Western Christendom from the impending Turkish onslaught for centuries - wincing as it's flaws overtook it and, stabbed in the back by the West in 1204, left it prostrate - this is the stuff of tragedy. No writer of fiction could ever have created the drama of the Byzantine Empire. I highly recommend this volume, as both history, and literature; and if it whets your appetite, Norwich's three-volume version awaits you: enjoy!

Getting more than 1000 years of history into a modestly sized book is something of an achievement. But Norwich's book accomplishes this task by leaving out what is most important to most contemporary historians: the realities of Byzantine life. Norwich focuses almost exclusively on that tiny minority of political and religious leaders-very much a "great man" view of history. We learn almost nothing of the lives of ordinary people. We are totally in the dark about the arts, philosophy, and technology of the Byzantines.
The writing is at best only adequate. IF you are looking for a rich history of the more cultural aspects of Byzantium, this is NOT it. Norwich is very much of the "old school."

Norwich does a very admirable job of trying to put 1100+ years of history into less than 400 paces. As others have mentioned, though, this involves introducing new characters at a dizzying pace, and it can be hard to keep track of all the Leos, Johns, Michaels, Constantines, Eudoxias, etc. Personally, I would like to have seen him spend less time on palace politics (a lot of discussion about how so-and-so's nephew had to be blinded and sent to a monastery) and instead do a few side chapters on economics, military tactics, daily life of the commoners, life in the city of Constantinople, etc.

Nevertheless, I understand the problems he was up against trying to edit this down, and found it to be a very solid work.

A truely wonderful book. John Julius Norwich takes you into a fascinating world and a state that endured a thousand years. Unlike Gibbon, Norwich's love of the history of this lost Empire shines as brighly as the leadership of it's greatest emperors. He pays proper homage to the debt that all of us in the west owe the Byzantines for preserving the legacy of Greek and Roman world and fending off the onslaught of the Islamic tide for 8 centuries until the emergence of the Renaissance. A must read for those who love history.

Don't short-change yourself. Read the three volume original, if you can find it in the library. What you lose in brevity, you gain in insight.

This book is an excellent intro to the topic, without getting bogged down in the details that the three-volume set would inevitably do. If you want a high-level view of Byzantium, you can't do better than this. The author has an excellent style that will hold your interest in the topic.

I grant you, it will leave professionals looking for more; hence some of the lower ratings. But if you aren't a professional, or if Byzantium isn't your specialty, it will do as an introduction. And you can always get his three-volume set if you need more.

I got this as a gift not long ago and picked it up shortly thereafter: I wasn't through the reign of Justinian before I put it down and went to my local library to pick up the first book of the unabridged three volume set. I've about finished the first volume, Byzantium: The Early Centuries, and its clear to me that this abridgement does no justice to the original work.

In fact, I think the author would agree with me (as any author would who must suffer the torture of dicing up his beloved work). The book opens up with something close to a masked appeal to the reader to read the entire set instead of settling for the compacted skeleton. This book looks to be roughly 1/3 of the original text, and covers over a millenium of material: you can imagine what a rush job this is. You will pick nothing up from this: its too brief to put things in proper perspective, all of the 'dressing' is cut out so that you won't get a clear understanding of the characters of the people described, etc. But worst of all, the fun of the book is sucked out. The author is extremely witty, full of subtle jokes and clever ideas, most of which have been cut out.

So what's this abridgement good for? Well, it still has value, I guess. There are tons of plates, maps, and charts in it, which are infinitely helpful. Also, if you know the history, or have read the original three volumes and want to brush up, I imagine this is a great tool. If you're broke and just want to learn the most basic of the basics, I guess chipping in for the paperback might be a better option, too. Otherwise, throw this aside and pick up the unabridged version.

Starting with the Empire's foundation by Constantine in A.D. 330 and ending with its fall in 1453, John Julius Norwich artfully consolidates the Empire's illustrious history in one indispensable single-volume, and colors the age like no one before. Eleven centuries of art and warfare, politics and theology, Popes and patriarchs, emperors and kings, are all vividly characterized and staged under the genius of Norwich's compelling narrative. This is a must have for anyone interested in the Roman Empire's classic shift from the West to the East.