Don't know much about history

As is my wont, I’m reading some military alternative history fiction that focuses on the Byzantine empire. This is actually the third book I’ve read that retells interesting bits of Byzantium-- and it’s a topic that I learned absosmurfly nothing about long ago in school. In fact, there are great big gaping holes in my knowledge of history, since high school just glosses over everything from homo erectus to WWII.

Is there any great book out there that rectifies this? That delves into the Axums in Ethiopia, life under Genghis Khan, the Middle Kingdom, Rome (or Constantinople, or Istanbul)? That discusses the interesting people involved in the 30 years war, Richelieu, Cromwell, the Inquisition, and the plague?

You want one book that covers all of that? :slight_smile: If you want a good book on Byzantium, I’d recommend John Julian Norwich’s three volume “History of Byzantium”

Three volumes? Just for the history of one empire?

Geez, it sounds positively byzantine in its complexity!
(Ow! Stop hitting!)

You don’t need a book, you have the web. Search for Rome and Byzantium and you’ll find pretty good sites refering to those empires.
If you want to read a book you should buy “History of the Decline and fall of the Roman Empire” in 6 (yes six) volumes.
The first volume starts with the reign of the Antonines (circa 200 A.D.) the sixth volume ends with the fall of Constantinople in the year 1453. Between those two volumes you’ll learn about the roman empire and it’s succesors (The bizantine empire, the european kingdoms, the papacy and The holy Roman Germanic Empire), in fact when you finish reading it you’ll be able to understand the evolution that took humanity from the Roman Empire to modern western society.-
The book is not perfect, Gibbon, (the author) was pretty prejudiced against Christianity, (specially the church).
The best thing about the book is that eventhough it is “hard history” it’s very entertaining.

Hehe, I guess that comes naturally, when you look critically at the skeletons in the closet of the Church!!

Barbarian - Are you reading *Agent of Byzantium * by Harry Turtledove, by any chance?

I doubt it. He’s still interested in the Byzantine Empire, isn’t he?

Sounds more like the Belisarius series from Drake & Flint.

Could be Guy Gavriel Kay’s “Sailing to Sarantium,” which is my favorite of his.

Don’t know much about Biology,
But I do know…

…ooops, misunderstood thread :o

Smeghead and UncaStuart have hit this particular nail on the head, although I’ve read Turtledove’s Misplaced Legion series…

And I will look at the suggestionsl earlier up. But does anyone have any ideas about later history? I mean, high school texts aim to cover this material all the time. Surely someone’s got something decent out there?

You’re asking for a lot from one book. Have you checked out the Oxford history series?

Rubicon by Holland(?) is a superb popular history account of the fall of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Empire.

Young pups nowadays. No tenacity. Why back in my day we’d read five volumes of Byzantine history before breakfast … in the original Greek! grumble grumble mutter

Anticipating just such a reaction, Lord Norwich also wrote a one volume condensation of his original history.

At least, we can hope he’s not reading Evening in Byzantium.

Which got made into a TV movie/miniseries back in the 1970s.

All I remember about it was (A) a young woman deliberately had sex with her biological father who had abandonded her so long ago that he didn’t recognize her, and (B) somebody wrote a book featuring an atomic bomb on little bitty train tracks inside an airliner, and some kook decided to make the book’s plot happen in real life.

  • Constantinople: the Forgotten Empire* and Isaac Asomov’s other histories (such as The Shaping of England; the Shaping of France; the Egyptians; the Roman Republic; The Roman Empire; The Greeks; The Dark Ages)

Although these books are written for the juvenile reader, they are a great, quick introduction into the history of various areas. I’m not sure they are still in print, but I’ve had luck in libraries. Once I get a general overview from a book like these, I find it easier to find books are more specific perios, rulers, or aspects of the society. Also worth looking at is the Durants’ The Story of Civilization. Again, this is more of an overview, perhaps concentrating of a few rulers or perios in depth, but it is a way to narrow the focus.

I seem to be rationing “d’s” today. Please insert where appropriate.

For a fun overview, get Larry Gonick’s Cartoon History of the Universe.

Part 1: “From the Big Bang to Alexander the Great” ISBN# 0-385-26520-4
Part 2: “From the Springtime of China to the Fall of Rome” ISBN# 0-385-42093-5
Part 3: “From the Rise of Arabia to the Renaissance” ISBN# 0-393-32403-6

Then look in the back of each book for the bibliographies. You could start a pretty good library with Gonick’s sources.

You need Colin McEvedy’s historical atlases, specifically The Penguin Atlas of Ancient Hstory and The Penguin Atlas of Medieval History.

McEvedy steps through European history at roughly hundred-year intervals. He uses the same map for each step so you can really get a sense of how different civilizations ebb and flow. And the high-level historical summary that accompanies each map is witty and succint. These two books (and their two companion volumes that cover the Renaissance and recent history) do a wonderful job of establishing a historical framework for other historical reading.

Hey fishie, note the username-- I’m just a stinkin’ foreigner who doesn’t understand greek!