Lost to the West is a try at restoring the forgotten history of the Roman Empire. It tries to cover 1123 years of history in a few hundred pages, and it does this by skipping from important figure to important figure.

It's a pretty good read; the author doesn't bore us with details, and each page is crowded with fascinating detail. Where I feel that the book lacks in detail is in describing the lives of the common people, and although hints about their situation are dropped from time to time, I wish there was more detail and more information.

However, given the lack of popular reading on this topic, Lars Brownworth's book is definitely welcome, and at the same time his podcast, 12 byzantine rulers, is a welcome companion to the book, as it doesn't just present excerpts from the book, but comes with a bit more information that is not necessarily covered here.

All in all a compelling read.