The Byzantine Empire 1025-1204: A Political History

Angold's is a wonderful and wonderfully readable analysis of two periods of Byzantine history: the fall of the Macedonian regime (1025-1081), and the rise and fall of the Comnenian regime (1081-1204). His explanation of the former goes well beyond the conventional story of incompetent emperors and courtly intrigue, bringing to the foreground the political, social, and intellectual changes of that time and the regime's attempts to cope with them. His portrait of Psellus is particularly illuminating. The analysis of how Alexius Comnenus adapted the government to meet these challenges is also penetrating. Only in the final part of the book is these a loss of focus (as indeed there was in the empire itself). Not a book for beginners, but useful for anyone who wants to look deeper at a fascinating period of history.

Michael has brought his vast knowledge of the subject to bear in a lucid and very readable account of one of the most fascinating periods of this great civilisation. A joy.