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Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire

Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire Book Reviews 119 researched study provides a new perspective on the interdependence of the fates of Muslim, Christian and Jew in medieval Iberia. JANE S. GERBER Graduate Center of the City University of New York gerberjs@aol.com 2012, Jane S. Gerber JUDITH HERRIN, 2009 London: Penguin, Allen Lane xxiii þ 391 pp., ill., maps £7.49/US$ 14.84 (paperback) ISBN 9780141031026 Writing a general history of Byzantium presents many challenges. How should the author do justice to the Byzantine Empire’s truly enormous time-frame, one that stretches from the fourth to the fifteenth century? How should they handle the vastly different geographical extent of the Empire in different periods? How should they explain Byzantium’s dynamic relationship with the immense kaleidoscope of faiths, ethnicities, and polities that surrounded the Empire? In this elegantly written and entertaining account, Judith Herrin’s solution to the problems of making Byzantine history and culture accessible to a wide readership is to adopt an approach in which theme and chronology are constructively fused. Herrin also creatively uses colourful personalities, prestigious sites and lively authors from the many Byzantine centuries as conduits for the discussion of wider political, economic and cultural change. Thus, the first seven chapters of this study are http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Al-Masaq: Journal of the Medieval Mediterranean Taylor & Francis

Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire

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Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire

Abstract

Book Reviews 119 researched study provides a new perspective on the interdependence of the fates of Muslim, Christian and Jew in medieval Iberia. JANE S. GERBER Graduate Center of the City University of New York gerberjs@aol.com 2012, Jane S. Gerber JUDITH HERRIN, 2009 London: Penguin, Allen Lane xxiii þ 391 pp., ill., maps £7.49/US$ 14.84 (paperback) ISBN 9780141031026 Writing a general history of Byzantium presents many challenges. How should the author do justice to the...
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Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Copyright
Copyright Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN
1473-348X
eISSN
0950-3110
DOI
10.1080/09503110.2012.655590
Publisher site
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Abstract

Book Reviews 119 researched study provides a new perspective on the interdependence of the fates of Muslim, Christian and Jew in medieval Iberia. JANE S. GERBER Graduate Center of the City University of New York gerberjs@aol.com 2012, Jane S. Gerber JUDITH HERRIN, 2009 London: Penguin, Allen Lane xxiii þ 391 pp., ill., maps £7.49/US$ 14.84 (paperback) ISBN 9780141031026 Writing a general history of Byzantium presents many challenges. How should the author do justice to the Byzantine Empire’s truly enormous time-frame, one that stretches from the fourth to the fifteenth century? How should they handle the vastly different geographical extent of the Empire in different periods? How should they explain Byzantium’s dynamic relationship with the immense kaleidoscope of faiths, ethnicities, and polities that surrounded the Empire? In this elegantly written and entertaining account, Judith Herrin’s solution to the problems of making Byzantine history and culture accessible to a wide readership is to adopt an approach in which theme and chronology are constructively fused. Herrin also creatively uses colourful personalities, prestigious sites and lively authors from the many Byzantine centuries as conduits for the discussion of wider political, economic and cultural change. Thus, the first seven chapters of this study are

Journal

Al-Masaq: Journal of the Medieval Mediterranean – Taylor & Francis

Published: Apr 1, 2012

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