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Title: Didn't Do His Homework
Review: John Julius Norwich must be a wonderful man to have received so many good reviews for his flabby writing and shallow scholarship. Having only an amateur's interest in Venetian history but with more than passing knowledge of the Byzantine Empire, the Balkans, and the Ottoman Turks, I found his treatment of these subjects misleading and error-ridden. He pays scant attention to Venice's Adriatic possessions and does not always even seem to have a basic grasp of geography. As for Venice's all-important relations with Constantinople, he is completely at sea. But after looking at his dreadful history of the Byzantine Empire, one could expect nothing better. It is a pity that this book was ever published, because it seems to have monopolized the market and discouraged the publication of real histories of Venice.
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