The Great Battle of the West

Here's a cool article that, in the course of a book review, compares the siege of Constantinople to that of Minas Tirith. It's pretty interesting stuff. I've always thought the Byzantine Empire was fascinating. Sometimes from reading history you get the impression that it was only a blip from when Rome fell to when Constantinople, the Rome in the East, finally succumbed to the Turks. Actually, it was almost 1,000 years! That's an amazing span of time to get your mind around. Anyway, the reviewed book seems like it might be interesting.