William Rosen doesn´t just give us the most believable, the most human and the most fully rounded Justinian ever, he also conjures up a vivid picture of the age, in a compelling style that makes his weighty learning light

Ambitious and learned...readers will be swept along by the strong current of Mr Rosen's good natured erudition

A massively ambitious work that covers a great deal of ground..... a splendid biography of the emperor Justinian

Assertively modern in language and attitude, Rosen's multi-disciplinary Byzantine history deals not only with fatal microbiology but also celebrates Justinian's major achievements

As a feat of scholarship alone this book is extraordinary, but what really impresses is the sense of ease its author manifests in whatever subject he enters. It's as if he had been granted the freedom of late antiquity at birth ... His eloquence, wit, narrative skill, learning and (one dares to add) compassion, hoist this book abouve the miasma of its deeply sombre subject and make it, strangely, a joy

Justinan was, as Rosen engagingly sets out, a master statesman.... Rosen carefully weighs his contribution

First hand accounts of everyday experiences gleaned from close contact with Tibetan priests, politicians and peasants illuminate this moving book of modern day Tibet.

An enjoyably written argument

A gripping account

DeGroot tells the story of the American lunar mission with verve and elegance

Fascinating, gossipy and occasionally hilarious

Ackroyd's view of Venice is not that of an infatuated lover... but more the magisterial distillation of much knowledge and reading, conveyed in prose that aspires to the glassy elegance of La Serenissima herself

Opulent, shimmering prose

Ackroyd does Venice, his sonorous, scene painting prose advancing in rhythmic columns until no quarter of the city has escaped assimilation.

Ackroyd's achievement is to bring the city back to life and help you to experience differently. Take it with you next time you visit.

His dark tapestry ... deserves a place in every visitor's luggage

Ackroyd writes about Venice as an idea, with stylish meditations on such topics as time, light, water, sexuality, politics and psychopathology...he writes so well that at times he'd drive you mad - "Venice represented an idea that was itself eternal" - but if you just climb into his gondola and go where he takes you, the rewards are great indeed

Many books have been written about Venice by authors like Mary McCarthy and Jan Morris. Ackroyd's advantage is his poetic eye

Ackroyd writes beguilingly as he weaves his way around the lagoon, supplying interesting details en route...