Review of 'Lost to the West : the Forgotten Byzantine Empire That Rescued Western Civilization' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
3.0 stars
I enjoyed the obvious passion Brownworth has for his subject, and I really appreciate him saying straight-out that he was hoping this book would just be a launching pad for people who want to learn about Byzantine history--that he hopes that they will go out and read widely on the topic and not take his word for things. The writing is straightforward and enjoyable enough, and he definitely does a good job of showing just what a rollercoaster ride Byzantine history was.
But he puts way too much emphasis on the emperor's roles--I really feel like this is a series of short explorations of good and bad emperors of note through Byzantine history. It's pretty much a "Great Men" view of history with little insight into how the people actually lived. Even the great theological debates that dominated so much of Byzantine history are really mentioned mostly in …
3.0 stars
I enjoyed the obvious passion Brownworth has for his subject, and I really appreciate him saying straight-out that he was hoping this book would just be a launching pad for people who want to learn about Byzantine history--that he hopes that they will go out and read widely on the topic and not take his word for things. The writing is straightforward and enjoyable enough, and he definitely does a good job of showing just what a rollercoaster ride Byzantine history was.
But he puts way too much emphasis on the emperor's roles--I really feel like this is a series of short explorations of good and bad emperors of note through Byzantine history. It's pretty much a "Great Men" view of history with little insight into how the people actually lived. Even the great theological debates that dominated so much of Byzantine history are really mentioned mostly in relation to how the emperor's reacted to them. Also he buys completely into the idea of the "dark ages" in Western Europe, which he uses throughout to contrast the civilization of Byzantium. I have it on good authority from actual medievalists of Western Europe that the dark ages narrative is not a constructive or realistic one. I don't see any sympathy at all for the Muslim point of view--they're pretty much just Bad Guys with no real exploration of their motives or their larger place in the world. The fact that he's espousing these perspectives that have been pretty debunked makes me wonder what other assumptions he might have made that aren't as accurate as they could be.
This is very much a popular history and doesn't aim to be more, and that's fine, but I don't think it rises anywhere near the level that the best popular histories can.