• 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
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (1,856 ratings)

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Lost to the West  By  cover art

Lost to the West

By: Lars Brownworth
Narrated by: Lars Brownworth
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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
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

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

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    5 out of 5 stars

Just a delight for anyone interested in history !

I am a very bright, over educated person who has nonetheless never understood the relationship between the Roman and Byzantine Empires. Recently I went to Italy and saw the Byzantine mosaics at Ravenna. That did it -- I HAD to understand how the Christian world (which was dazzlingly on display in those mosaics) had extended to Constantinople, and how on earth the so-called Byzantine style in art had arrived in Italy. This book has all the answers, and best of all is narrated with terrific panache by the author. He is a great storyteller as well as an excellent narrator, and I found the entire book mesmerizing, which is a feat given that it is also so informative. In fact, this book was so wonderful that now I have begun listening to a book about what was happening in the same thousand year period in the lands to the south and east of the Roman/Byzantine Empires, and next on my wish list would be a book focusing on the same period in Western Europe (for example Charlemagne). This book and this author have really whetted my appetite for history and even geography. I can't recommend it too highly !! Ten out of ten !!

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50 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant History

History is one of those things that an Audible Book really makes come alive. This book is one of the best. The author and narrator has a great grasp of the historical sequence of events and presents them in a way that is both fascinating and entertaining.

In high school, I hated history with its emphasis on dates and events. If only history texts were written like this. The individuals come alive and their actions are both fascinating and horrifying. The book is especially strong when it comes to presenting the political realities of the time and explaining how they propelled events forward.

After listening to this book, I have a much greater understanding of how we got here and why the world is the way it is. It is also, in a larger sense, a cautionary tale. Our leaders are as misguided now as the rulers were back then (with the exception of the frequent murder of competing family members).

Every book we listen to is an investment of time. This one gives a lot back. Well worth every minute.

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22 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent Book about Little Known History

In the West we are taught that after the Roman Empire fell in 476 AD that then came a long period of history called the Dark Ages. Well this was true enough from the Western Roman Empire, but the greatness of the Roman Empire lived on for another 1000 years in what is properly called the Eastern Roman Empire. In Lost to the West Lars Brownsworth provides an interesting and detailed account of one of the Great Ages of Man known as the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire. The book shows that without this Empire that European history would have been completely different. That the dominate religion of Europe would have been Islam and not Christianity. An Empire that had to constantly fight for its survival, against a host of enemies. An Empire that for centuries was the only civilized nation in Europe. An Empire that was the richest and most advanced of its day. An Empire whose preservation of Greek Classical writing were the main inspiration for the Renaissance. Truly and eye opening history that I was never taught in high school or college.

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20 people found this helpful

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Listen to it over and over

I've listened to this book several times. The stories are fascinating, and I love how he writes/describes them. Honestly I would have preferred that he had hired a more professional reader to read his book, as he has kind of an accent, but overall, this book is awesome, get it.

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14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

as good as the renown podast

Lars brownsworth has gained accolades for his podcast on the same subject. Both of these are oustanding and opened my eyes to an historical subject that was formerly unknown to me and many others. The downside is that fans of the podcast (who I suspect will be the major audiance) will find relatively little new in this book, so whilst I recommend either thoroughly, I cannot really recommend both.

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14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

A captivating narrative

A well written narrative on Byzantine History, however, after Comneni Restoration, the book started to skip important parts, such the reign of Adronika II, Andronika III, John I, but for what it is worth, the narrative is captivating, this book should be supplemented by Thomas F. Madden's golden scholar theory - Empire of Gold, and The Fall of Constantinople by Steven Runciman, if one does not have time for Gibbons' Decline and fall of Roman Empire.

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Worth the Read

Would you listen to Lost to the West again? Why?

Yes. There is much detail to review.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Lost to the West?

The description of the fall of Constantinople and how the West was complicit in the destruction of the Eastern Roman Empire, the affects of which reverberate today.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

It would be impossible because of its length, but i was constantly looking for opportunities to listen.

Any additional comments?

I visited Istanbul in 2008 and was blown away by the history and magnificence of the city. I now wish I had read this book before I went. It would have enhanced the experience. A must read for anyone who loves history and is unfamiliar with the Eastern Roman Empire.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

A Great Primer to Byzantine History

The author does a fine job of reading his own work. Like any book about distant history, you've gotta pay close attention, or you can quickly lose your place and have no idea what he's talking about. But if you pay attention, the book is an excellent narrative, from the founding of Constantinople to the fall of Constantinople. You could draw a nice graph of the rising and falling fortunes of the Empire from this clearly-written, entertaining account. In a single volume, Mr. Brownworth has done a great summary of 1,100 years of history, and I found myself wanting to seek more detailed, deeper histories of certain events and people, but that's by no means a criticism of this book. If you had x pages to tell the rich story of Byzantium, you can't tell it more evenly and smoothly than this book does. I think I really did end up with a reasonably comprehensive, if basic, passing familiarity with the totality of this now-little-known empire, which basically was the center of the WORLD for 1,000 years. It's made me wish my Greek friends had a better grasp of their own history so we can talk it.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Byzantium

An amazing story of an Empire that shielded the West from a thousands years. Enjoyed every moment of it. A must buy.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Essentially the same as the podcast

Lars Brownworth's work is a fine piece of popularized history. However he has already given this work away for free as a podcast, and thus I cannot recommend spending money on this audiobook.

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4 people found this helpful