Byzantium: The Decline and Fall [Deckle Edge] [Hardcover]

John Julius Norwich (Author)

Book Description

Release date: November 7, 1995 | Series: Byzantium (Book 3)

Third volume in the series. With 32 pages of illustrations and 10 maps and tables.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

With this volume, Norwich completes his magisterial narrative history of Byzantium. As in the earlier volumes (Byzantium: The Early Centuries, LJ 3/1/89; and Byzantium: The Apogee, LJ 1/92), he seeks to rectify the negative impressions perpetuated by 18th-century historian Edward Gibbon. Norwich records the history of a brilliant civilization that endured for over 11 centuries. From the founding of Constantinople (capital of Byzantium) by the first Christian Roman emperor and Byzantium's first flowering, to its fatal weakening after the treacherous attack on Constantinople by Western knights in the Fourth Crusade in 1204 and the valiant death of the last Byzantine emperor in 1453 at the hands of the conquering Turks, Norwich has told Byzantium's story in elegant and moving prose. This last volume in the three-part history of an unfairly neglected European civilization is highly recommended for public and academic libraries.
Robert Andrews, Duluth P.L., Minn.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Inside Flap

Third volume in the series. With 32 pages of illustrations and 10 maps and tables.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 528 pages
• Publisher: Knopf (November 7, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679416501
• ISBN-13: 978-0679416500
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.8 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #472,150 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, and surprisingly readable. December 9, 2000

By James Yanni

Format:Hardcover

Before I read this book, I knew nothing about Byzantium. So I was a bit overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information, and realized after I started that I had made a mistake; I didn't realize when I bought this book that it was the third volume of a three-volume set. Doubtless, it would have been less overwhelming to start at the beginning, especially for someone like me, with no previous knowledge of the subject. Still, I learned a great deal from this book; not only was it informative, but it wasn't nearly as dry and impenatrable as I'd been afraid it might be. In fact, the style is downright readable; Norwich actually has a rather pleasant, if dry, sense of humor.

I definitely plan on getting the first two volumes of this series, and continuing my education on the history of Byzantium.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth buying for the footnotes alone! February 15, 2000

By CMLee

Format:Hardcover

Others have written at length about the scholarship and erudition. The Byzantium trilogy is indeed an excellent addition to my history bookshelf. If you need any encouragement to buy it, then just read a couple of the footnotes: "neither the imperial army nor Alexius Comnenus [the Emperor] emerges with much credit from the bloodbath of Levunium." footnote: "Anna Comnena (in The Alexiad, a history) exonerates her father from any involvement in the massacre, but then she would, wouldn't she?" Or regarding the Emperors before Alexius Comnenus: "...Inflation, which had already begun under Michael VII, (footnote here), spiraled more dizzily than ever." Footnote; "He was popularly known as 'Parapinaces', or 'Minus-a-quarter', since the gold nomisma, after having remained stable for more than 500 years, was said to have lost a quarter of its value during his reign." On an imperial marriage, the footnote reads: "The marriage evoked 100 lines of peculiarly flatulent verse from Claudian, the Epithalamium ending with an affecting picture of an infant son sitting on his parents' knees. Maria is said, however, to have lived and died a virgin." I recommend this book, and the other two books (Byzantium: The Early Centuries, and Byzantium: The Apogee) highly. Read them. You won't be disappointed. I draw a parallel between the books and what Lord Norwich said about the Byzantine Emperors: "Some of these Emperors were heroes, others were monsters; but they were never, never dull."

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The not-so-triumphant triumphant conclusion August 13, 2002

By Glenn McDorman VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

The final volume of Norwich's Byzantine history is a literary trimph, despite the disintegrating nature of the civilization being written about. In this volume Norwich begins in the aftermath of the battle of Manzikert in 1071 and finishes with the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottomans in 1453. Norwich uses his elegant prose style to present this tragic story in a highly moving way.

All three volumes read like a eulogy at the funeral of beloved relative. In this period of dehumanizing social sciences Norwich brings the people of the past alive, and treats them with respect and dignity even when their behavior does not necessarily inspire kind treatment. The role and majesty of Byzantium has been overlooked in the West for centuries; in doing his best to rectify that Norwich has created one of the masterpieces of historical writing.