Lost to the West

The Forgotten Byzantine Empire That Rescued Western Civilization

By: Lars Brownworth

Narrated by: Lars Brownworth

Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

Filled with unforgettable stories of emperors, generals, and religious patriarchs, as well as fascinating glimpses into the life of the ordinary citizen, Lost to the West reveals how much we owe to the Byzantine Empire that was the equal of any in its achievements, appetites, and enduring legacy. For more than a millennium, Byzantium reigned as the glittering seat of Christian civilization.

When Europe fell into the Dark Ages, Byzantium held fast against Muslim expansion, keeping Christianity alive. Streams of wealth flowed into Constantinople, making possible unprecedented wonders of art and architecture. And the emperors who ruled Byzantium enacted a saga of political intrigue and conquest as astonishing as anything in recorded history. Lost to the West is replete with stories of assassination, mass mutilation and execution, sexual scheming, ruthless grasping for power, and clashing armies that soaked battlefields with the blood of slain warriors numbering in the tens of thousands.

©2009 Lars Brownworth (P)2009 Random House

Critic reviews

"Captivating…In Lost to the West Lars Brownworth shows a novelist’s eye for character, bringing to life some of the most fascinating — and yet little known -- figures of the Byzantine era. But it is as a researcher into the obscurities of palace intrigue, treachery, and battlefield carnage that Lars really shines. With dry humor and a palette of vivid images, he recounts the dizzying game of musical chairs that placed one usurper after another on the Byzantine throne, only to be pitched off in a gaudily macabre way. In the end, one is left agog by the irony that the upshot of this centuries-long scrum was the preservation of nearly all that the Greeks have bequeathed to us.”—Steven Pressfield, author of Gates of Fire

“Rome never fell -- it simply moved five hundred miles East -- to Byzantium. For over a thousand years the Byzantines commanded one of the most visceral and vivid empires the world has ever known. And yet their achievements are consistently underplayed; written out of history. Lars Brownworth is a rare talent. His contagious passion brings murderous empresses, conniving eunuchs, lost Greek texts and Byzantine treasures of fairy-tale proportions blinking back into the light. Confidently striding through time and across the mountains and plains of the Eastern Mediterranean, Brownworth puts this theocratic superstate slap-bang in the center of mankind's global story; back where it should be. The Byzantines made our world what it is today. Lars Brownworth matches their verve and brio in his seductive and gripping account.”—Bettany Hughes, PBS host and author of Helen of Troy

“This is history as it used to be, history as story-telling. In this fascinating account of the Byzantine empire, Lars Brownworth covers a thousand years of blood-letting, outrageous luxury, bitter religious disputes and vaulting ambition without giving the slightest impression of being rushed or crowded. The page turns unaided.”—Anthony Everitt, bestselling author of Augustus, Cicero and The First Emperor

great

great history. Fun to imagine what it was like and look for parallels. highly recommend

One of the best history books I’ve ever read

Wow what a ride! Reads like an action novel. What history, what débauchary, what brutality that occurred in the ancient world! Keeps you on the edge of your seat. What a sad ending for such a great empire!

An Excellent Place to Start

For those who are either unaware of or only vaguely familiar with the history of the Byzantine/Eastern Roman Empire, this is one of the best general historical surveys around. For readers looking to ‘get their feet wet’ on this subject, I can recommend no better starting point. Brownworth hits all of the major highlights and recounts the traditional version of the Byzantine story with an undeniable vigor and minimal bias.
Lost to the West is certainly a cursory exploration. Readers that are already familiar with the general trajectory of the Byzantine narrative, will find little to gain here in terms of rich detail. Somewhat frustratingly, but also understandably for a book of this length, the author focuses the majority of his attention on the more well known figures in Byzantine history. Justinian’s reign, the expansionist period of the late 10th-early 11th century, the Komnenian Restoration and 4th Crusade are all covered in reasonable detail. Conversely, some of the more influential emperors are glossed over in a sentence or two. Highly pivotal reigns such as that of Anastasius I, Tiberius II, Maurice, the descendants of Heraclius, Constantine Monomachos and others are mentioned in passing, if at all. The book also largely ignores the role of civil conflicts in the ebb and flow of Byzantine fortunes. Brownworth’s narrative gains traction as the book progresses. Lost to the West begins with Constantine and the re-founding of Byzantium as Constantinople but then skips ahead rather abruptly to the fall of the Western Empire and the rise of Justinian. A more detailed explanation of why the East survived the fall of the West would have helped set the stage for the rest of the book.
The last thing I must mention is that Brownworth provides very little explanation of the sources. Even a cursory analysis of who is saying what, when and perhaps why would have provided this narrative with more muscle.
All of that said, this is the book that I recommend to friends or family with little to no prior exposure to Byzantine history. It is highly accessible, it reads well and provides a quality survey of the Empire. For those looking for a more detailed and analytical approach to this subject, I might recommend any of the works by Anthony Kaldellis, John Haldon or Warren Treadgold.

Never knew

I never thought I would enjoy a book about an ancient civilization, and now at the conclusion of this book, I find myself hungry for more. I will look into more works from Lars Brownworth.

Very Interesting Story

I found Lost to the West: The Forgotten Byzantine Empire That Rescued Western Civilization to be a very well done book, for me it was a subject I knew less about. I found that the author, who also is the narrator, to be easy to listen to its nice to hear the actual author reading there own book. I learned a lot about the late Roman empire in the east. I have since listened to the authors podcasts as well. Overall its a great listen, enjoy.

Best Audiobook Ever

My wife and I have listened to this book three times in a mere window of months ... it's that good. Absolutely mesmerizing. 1000 years of Greco-Roman history you learn (absolutely) nothing about in K-12. A history lover's dream. This book is the critical missing link between the fall of the Western Roman Empire to the Renaissance. And the audio narration was second to none. Can't wait to listen to it again (and again and again). Fantastic!

Good history of Byzantine empire

Good history of the Byzantine Empire. You cannot objectively read this book and without being concerned about what's going on in Europe right now.

Excellant overview.

Years ago I tried to read a five hundred page history and gave up. This is an important story worth five hundred pages and this provides an easy way to find that out. And it moves along rather smartky as well. I will now replay "The Sultans" to complete the nex five hundred years.

Solid intro to the medieval Roman Empire

I already have a couple of brief surveys under my belt so this didn’t really teach me anything new, but this book is the perfect intro to anyone who’s curious about how the Roman Empire survived after the fall of the West. We owe the Byzantines a great deal of gratitude for preserving what they could from Ancient Greece and Rome, and though the endless march of self-serving aristocrats and lurid murders is sometimes frustrating to hear, the story is one that can’t be ignored. Good job goes to Mr. Brownworth for this quick intro that sets the stage for deeper study.

History Teacher Review

I am a massive fan of history books, but unfortunately many are far too mundane and boring to get through. This book is not like that, Mr. Brownworth is a fantastic story teller and does justice to this unsung hero of European history. I couldn’t recommend it more!