Becoming Charlemagne
Europe, Baghdad, and the Empires of A.D. 800

I read this book for a class, and although it wasn't something I will rave about and read again (simply because it is more academic than pleasure-reading), I did enjoy it. I loved how Sypeck told multiple stories, but wove them together, to show how different cultures coexisted at one time. It reads......more

"Becoming Charlemagne" is definitely history light, and a quick read which seems almost more like a historical novel than a stab at a history book. Sypeck spends a great deal of time trying to recreate what sights and sounds of places like Charlemagne's rural mountainside court in Aachen, or the col......more

I've read many books on the Medieval period and Charlemagne in the last two years. This is now one of my favorites. Jeff Sypeck put the events of the period in a context which allows the reader to understand the various political forces competing against one another during that era, and the skill use......more

Focuses on 796 to 802, with long interludes in Constantinople and Baghdad. I really enjoyed his writing style and had never considered the world events and far-flung rulers that contributed to Karl becoming Karl the Great, then becoming enshrouded in the myth that Charlemagne became.......more

brief book.. decent intro......more