The New Roman Empire

Byzantium, the eastern Roman empire, gets a full history by a single author from Anthony Kaldellis, running from the foundation of Constantinople in 324 AD to the fifteenth century, when the empire fell to the Ottoman Turks. Alongside political and military history it covers the major shifts in religion and society, population and the economy, incorporating new approaches to how Byzantine society and the state operated. Two themes shape the narrative: how the Roman state, by projecting accountability, persuaded its subjects that it worked in their interest, and the strain on a shared Roman and Christian identity from internal division and from western Europeans in the later Middle Ages.

It appears on Tyler Cowen's list of the best non-fiction books of 2024.