“A vivid story of Byzantium’s existence over the span of 1,100 years . . . . this work may well become the standard English-language history of Byzantium.” —Library Journal This is the first comprehensive and up-to-date history of Byzantium to appear in almost sixty years, and the first ever to cover both the Byzantine state and Byzantine society. It begins in A.D. 285, when the emperor Diocletian separated what became Byzantium from the western Roman Empire, and ends in 1461, when the last Byzantine outposts fell to the Ottoman Turks. Spanning twelve centuries and three continents, the Byzantine Empire linked the ancient and modern worlds, shaping and transmitting Greek, Roman, and Christian traditions—including the Greek classics, Roman law, and Christian theology—that remain vigorous today, not only in Eastern Europe and the Middle East but throughout Western civilization. Though in its politics Byzantium often resembled a third-world dictatorship, it has never yet been matched in maintaining a single state for so long, over a wide area inhabited by heterogeneous peoples. Drawing on a wealth of original sources and modern works, the author treats political and social developments as a single vivid story, told partly in detailed narrative and partly in essays that clarify long-term changes. He avoids stereotypes and rejects such old and new historical orthodoxies as the persistent weakness of the Byzantine economy and the pervasive importance of holy men in Late Antiquity. Without neglecting underlying social, cultural, and economic trends, the author shows the often-crucial impact of nearly a hundred Byzantine emperors and empresses. What the emperor or empress did, or did not do, could rapidly confront ordinary Byzantines with economic ruin, new religious doctrines, or conquest by a foreign power. Much attention is also paid to the complex life of the court and bureaucracy that has given us the adjective “byzantine.” The major personalities include such famous names as Constantine, Justinian, Theodora, and Heraclius, along with lesser-known figures like Constans II, Irene, Basil II the Bulgar-Slayer, and Michael VIII Palaeologus. Byzantine civilization emerges as durable, creative, and realistic, overcoming repeated setbacks to remain prosperous almost to the end. With 221 illustrations and 18 maps, A History of the Byzantine State and Society should long remain the standard history of Byzantium not just for students and scholars but for all readers. “Fluently written for the general reader.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review “Though several others have recently assayed to cover the complex history of the Eastern Roman Empire . . . none has done so as completely and satisfactorily as Treadgold.” —Libraries & Culture
Though many people know that American universities now offer an inadequate and incoherent education from a leftist viewpoint that excludes moderate and conservative ideas, few people understand how much this matters, how it happened, how bad it is, or what can be done about it. In The University We Need, Professor Warren Treadgold shows the crucial role of universities in American culture and politics, the causes of their decline in administrative bloat and inept academic hiring, the effects of the decline on teaching and research, and some possible ways of reversing the downward trend. He explains that one suggested reform, the abolition of tenure, would further increase the power of administrators, further decrease the quality of professors, and make universities even more doctrinaire and intolerant. Instead, he proposes federal legislation to monitor the quality and honesty of professors and to limit spending on administration to no more than 20 percent of university budgets (Harvard now spends 40 percent). Finally, he offers a specific proposal for the founding of a new leading university that could seriously challenge the dominance of Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Stanford, and Berkeley and attract conservative and moderate faculty and students now isolated in universities and colleges that are either leftist or mediocre. While agreeing with conservative critics that universities are in severe crisis, Treadgold believes that the universities’ problems largely transcend ideology and have grown worse partly because disputants on both sides of the academic debate have misunderstood the methods and goals of higher education.
In this first general book on the Byzantine army, the author traces the army's impact on the Byzantine state and society from the army's reorganization under Diocletian until its disintegration in the aftermath of the battle of Manzikert.
This introductory text provides a concise overview of the history of Byzantium, from AD 285, when it first separated from the Western Roman Empire, to 1461, when the last Byzantine splinter state disappeared. Over the course of this period, the Byzantine state and society underwent many crises, triumphs, declines and recoveries. Spanning twelve centuries and three continents, the Byzantine empire linked the ancient and modern worlds, shaping and transmitting Greek, Roman and Christian traditions that remain vigorous today. This book examines the causes behind Byzantium's successes, failures and remarkable longevity. The author shows how Byzantine political leadership, military strategy, cultural attitudes and social, institutional and demographic changes combined with the strengths and weaknesses of the empire's enemies to explain the paradoxes of Byzantium's long history. This revised second edition has been updated throughout to incorporate new research, most notably on gender, iconoclasm and environmental history. It is an essential text for students taking courses on Byzantine history seeking an introductory overview to this broad and complex topic. New to this Edition: - Updated throughout to incorporate the new research to have come out since the new edition published – most notably on gender, iconoclasm and environmental history - More attention paid to primary sources - Improved maps and images - A new timeline
The author of the following little sketch has often heard the question asked, "What did Gen. Warren do to deserve all that has been said about him?" "Did he do any thing more than fight bravely, and get killed on the day of the battle of Bunker Hill?" To answer these questions, and to show, that although it was much for him to sacrifice his life for his country, yet that was not all he did; that he had toiled nobly for many years in her cause, before a drop of blood had been shed to accomplish her freedom, has been the principal object in writing it. For some of the facts, she is indebted to those who have before written on the subject; but many of them have never before been published; nor does she think any but the closing one of his death is very generally known. Another object has been, to place the leading causes of the Revolution in so strong and clear a light, and in such simple language, that every child may comprehend them as soon as he can read.
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