How could anyone resist a book titled like this?This is full on power politics across hundreds of years in an empire that picked up where the Roman Empire left off... The objective of the author is to show how important warfare was to the existence of a Roman society in a world that was changing around them. The very same process of meeting new demands had assisted the demise of the western empire, yet the Byzantines found the vigour to persist. John Carr stresses the importance of military action in this struggle, hence the title of the book, yet the machinations of the various characters assume more importance in the text than details of military campaigns. This is not a book about Byzantine warfare. This is a book about those people who ordered their soldiers to go to war, and in many cases, actually led them into battle. And what characters they were... illustrations are unnecessary, because such is the dramatic and enthusiastic style, the story presents its own colour. John Carr has shone a light into a dusty old cupboard and revealed a treasure chest.

UNRV