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 A Short History of Byzantium Probably the most readable book on this topic, given how the Byzantines either appear as a footnote in books about Western Europe in the Middle Ages or are the subject of massive tomes with millions of footnotes. The author condensed his three-volume series into one book. It is quite readable and he describes very well a number of odd characters. If you like constant infighting, warfare, conquests and usurpations, this is for you! Seriously, you are lacking in knowledge about the world if you don't learn about the Byzantines. It takes serious skill to condense 1000 years of history into a few hundred pages. However, like most books about the Byzantines, it is the best when describing the conquest of Constantinople. If you are interested in Turkey and the Ottomans, also start here.  Dracula, Prince of Many Faces: His Life and His Time Hurr...a book about vampires. Wrong! I think most educated people know that Dracula the novel was based on a real life person. This book explores the actual Prince Dracula and his whole milieu of Eastern Europe in the middle to late 15th century. Another good book for those who are interested in the Ottomans, as Dracula's whole life was basically shaped by the power struggle between the nascent Ottoman Empire and Hungary. It also has some great Machiavellian twists and turns. I also highly recommend the Colleen McCullough books about Rome. For historical fiction, they are very well researched and the characters have motivations and behaviors that really seem foreign to the modern reader because they are generals and senators of Rome and normal people today don't deal with that poo poo. OMG BYZANTIUM fucked around with this message at 22:22 on Apr 2, 2012 |
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Apr 2, 2012 22:16
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