Hernando
This is great stuff. A surface-level recollection of very crucial events across the lifespan of the Eastern Roman Empire that, the author argues, helped shield the West not only against Islam but also against illiteracy.
The author's position is clear from the start, but the whole thing is told in a very absorbing way. Even if you don't agree with the thesis (I certainly tend to the camp that mostly agrees), it makes for an entertaining read.
Before laying out his reasons for why the East was largely "forgotten" in the past and for the apparent decadence and stagnation of the West, he recounts events that may or may not be directly related to his main point. Giving brief accounts all the way from Diocletian's imperial reforms, early Christianity, and Constantine moving the capital to New Rome, through his "conversion" and the growth of Christianity, the wars in the western part of the empire and its eventual fall, the ascendancy of Justinian and the reconquest led by his general Belisarius, the "Macedonian" and The Palaiologos dynasty and a lot of in betweens. In this recolection process you understand the author's position and the "what if" scenario about the Roman Empire's fall.
I was annoyed by the author misspelling SPQR and repeatedly calling it the Byzantine Empire throughout the book, even though himself claims that term has a negative connotation used to erase East Roman history. But other than just those minor things, the book is quite good.
This is great stuff. A surface-level recollection of very crucial events across the lifespan of the Eastern Roman Empire that, the author argues, helped shield the West not only against Islam but also against illiteracy.
The author's position is clear from the start, but the whole thing is told in a very absorbing way. Even if you don't agree with the thesis (I certainly tend to the camp that mostly agrees), it makes for an entertaining read.
Before laying out his reasons for why the East was largely "forgotten" in the past and for the apparent decadence and stagnation of the West, he recounts events that may or may not be directly related to his main point. Giving brief accounts all the way from Diocletian's imperial reforms, early Christianity, and Constantine moving the capital to New Rome, through his "conversion" and the growth of Christianity, the wars in the western part of the empire and its eventual fall, the ascendancy of Justinian and the reconquest led by his general Belisarius, the "Macedonian" and The Palaiologos dynasty and a lot of in betweens. In this recolection process you understand the author's position and the "what if" scenario about the Roman Empire's fall.
I was annoyed by the author misspelling SPQR and repeatedly calling it the Byzantine Empire throughout the book, even though himself claims that term has a negative connotation used to erase East Roman history. But other than just those minor things, the book is quite good.