I recently read a 200-page history of the Hellenistic Age, the 500 years between Alexander the Great and the Roman conquest in the Mediterranean. After Alexander died, his empire fell to fragments, with the claimants squabbling over the remains. This book chronicled that period. And, frankly, I'm surprised they could move for all the bodies.
Building on the heroic traditions inherited from Alexander and before, the claimants had no hesitation whatsoever about murdering anyone even remotely inconvenient.
It made for occasionally gripping reading, but mostly it was a matter of keeping track of a large number of names in too few pages.
While I conscientiously re-read whole sections of the book, I gave up entirely during the section on Egypt. All the women seemed to be called Cleopatra, and all royalty was expected to marry brothers, sisters and, in one case, a mother, which significantly complicated what was going on when.
I've been reading more history books recently, though, and structure is clearly a problem. The options seem to be to either present a lot of information and let the reader grab hold of whatever they can, or focus on just a few key moments or people and leave large gaps.
While I can't exactly recommend this book, it does a conscientious job of covering all the major events and people from the period, and makes for occasionally gripping reading.
