Volume III of the history of Byzantium. Whereas Volume I has Justinian crafted out of mosiacs and Volume II has a gold and gem-covered Bible on the cover, Volume III has the none-too-pleased looking Mehmet II, conquerer of Byzantium. Volume II leaves off at Manzikert, so Volume III picks up at the greatest military disaster in Byzantine history and ends with the city being conquered and the resulting fallout as the coffin lid closes on the empire. Uplifting stuff, basically. To be fair, it's not all gloom and doom; There are several compitent if not great rulers in between Manzikert and 1453, and the author deals buisnesslike with the fall of the city and the aftermath.
What else can I say? The writing is as excellent as Volumes I and II, and I'm sad to be finished with the series. My only complaint is that the footnotes start to become slightly annoying at this point - over half of them are now "See (earlier volume and page number)", which, having read the earlier books, I don't particuarly feel a need to do. This is truly the smallest of nits to pick, however, and like the previous two volumes you really can't go wrong.
Grade: A
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