On Friday I briefly discussed the problem of inaccessible history. The comments, as always on topics like this, were excellent in every way. But I think that some of the commenters missed my main point (or perhaps I didn't quite make it clearly enough).

More after the jump.

I'm not particularly concerned with finding the proper and most erudite scholarship for myself. We have several good libraries here in town and after some time and effort (which was fun, by the way) I was able to track down the history in which I was most interested and came highly recommended from numerous sources (thanks!): a two volume history of Perisa by Sir Percy Molesworth Sykes, Brigadier General, VC, MA, ADD, etcera. (British Imperial joke, BTW.)

What concerns me is that for many places, like Central Asia, Iraq and Iran there are no easily purchased, single volume histories that are not terribly tendentious for the lay reader. As I mentioned in the previous post, what I have in mind is Norwich's Abridged history of Byzantium. After that an interested reader can pick up the full three volume set and then wade into Gibbon! (Gibbon is wonderful, I might add.) I wasn't interested in histories that were for me, mind you, but for a soccer mom or NASCAR dad who just might be curious. It seems to be that history has been hijacked by hyperbole and polemics, especially in this hyper-partisan time, and when the American military is spread like a shotgun blast all over the globe. How about a short history of the Caucasus? How about one volume on the most important Crusades that doesn't wallow in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict? One volume on the Ottomans which doesn't obsess on the Balkans?  

Don't get me wrong, I like specialized history, sometimes the narrower the better. Kolstoe's Russians in the former Soviet Republics is simply indispensable. What's missing are histories covering the broad outlines and key trends of a particular era, like Fromkin's The Peace To End All Peace which is easy to read, very erudite and very light on hyperbole. Books like Fromkin's ignite the process of intellectual curiosity and I just don't see that much anymore. It's either Bernard Lewis or Chalmers Johnson: not a balanced historical diet if you ask me. Kind of like a frat house, all beer and pizza. You know, we all need veggies from time to time.