Byzantium: The Empire of the New Rome

Mango's views on Byzantine (or Eastern Roman, for the pedants) history and culture are presented clearly and forthrightly. He certainly isn't afraid to conceal his own opinions (and his occasional asides comparing the stultified Byzantine state with the declining Soviet Union of the 1980s stop being funny after the first few) but the writing is clear, the ideas interesting, and the book well laid-out. Those looking for a chronological history of the Byzantine Empire should look elsewhere; the book is organised in three sections devoted to the physical and political environment of the Byzantines, their conceptual world and their artistic legacy. All in all, a very good introduction to the subject