A Concise History of Byzantium. (Shorter Notices).

A Concise History of Byzantium, by Warren Treadgold (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2001; pp. 273. Pb. 3.99 [pounds sterling]).

Treadgold's book is divided into eight chapters: an introduction and conclusion and six sections organized into chronological periods, from 285 to 1461. Each section begins with a narrative account and ends with two descriptive accounts about `society' and `culture', which encompass, in much the same order each time, military matters (the most detailed, relating perhaps to one of Treadgold's particular interests), economics, class, the church, literature and art. As he says in the preface, this book draws on his far longer book, History of the …