One of the books I read while Debbie and I were lounging in the mountains was Jeff Sypeck's Becoming Charlemagne. It is splendid, a deftly written and crisp narrative, one of the best histories I've read in a good while. Want to know why the European Union is housed in the Charlemagne building in Brussels? Read Jeff's book, which tells how the Emperor Karl der Gross - yes, Charlemagne was a Frank, and the Franks were a Germanic tribe - was transformed after his death into the legendary Charlemagne. You can also get to know Abul Abaz, the elephant the Caliph of Baghdad, Harun al-Rashid, sent to Karl in the company of the latter's emissary, a Jewish merchant named Isaac. This isn't just facts and figures. Karl and his counselor Alcuin, the Byzantine Empress Irene, Pope Leo III, and many more characters are vividly portrayed, coming off as real people. Above all, you learn how events that took place more than a thousand years ago remain pertinent today. (By the way, I read the Kindle version of the book.)
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