A SHORT HISTORY OF THE BYZANTIUM

How far away is Byzantium? For us in the West, at its closest, it is a memory, a dream away. Yet the fact remains that when the people of the West were still hacking away at trees in our darkest of ages, the East was creating fine art and literature. Norwich's history follows 88 men and women--a few terrible, a few treacherous, some great, but all fascinating--through the 1,100 years of their rule before the final collapse in 1453 under the Ottoman sword. McDonough's reading resonates with the bardic rhythms of their ancient story. His pace is slow, at times triumphant, occasionally ironic, but ultimately tragic and uplifting, expressing the great human drama he is unfolding. His reading reminds us ultimately that Byzantium is not that far away at all, but sits quietly latent in the more mystical depths of each of us. P.E.F. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine [Published: JUN/JUL 00]