I was almost entirely unfamiliar with this period in world history before reading this book, which I acquired in no small part because of its excellent title - surely a contender for one of the best book titles of the year. But perhaps many people are unfamiliar with this subject. My relative ignorance made the book all the more fascinating. Wood pays reverence to her sources - perhaps too much. At times the book felt like a rather dry survey of documentary sources, and I was not surprised, after reading it, to learn that she was (is?) a librarian. On reflection, the book feels like it was written by an archivist, rather than a historian. There is not a great deal here in terms of weaving together a grand narrative, although that isn't really intended as a criticism, only a qualification. Most of the time I suspect it is the historian's desire to concoct such things which renders the more accessible histories unreliable. ( )