I had to trudge through some of the book — mostly towards the beginning — because I just couldn’t keep up with all the names and locations and geographical formations thrown out. I’d chalk that up to my limited knowledge of the continent though.

Each chapter has a main topic and time period and sometimes they overlap, but it allows each chapter to be much more focused and coherent thematically, which in turn allows the reader to almost imagine each chapter as its own book. And then there’s a shitload of boxes strewn throughout the book that detail smaller, interesting events or people or places. Oh, and also the appendices with lists and maps and charts and stuff. I love those.

The book really deserves a place on any bookshelf, even in this post-Kindle world (TM Karakand).

That European history book looks interesting – I might check it out at some point.