I do an international trip from California to either Asia or Europe every other month, and I wanted something that I could read on my Kindle for long periods of time. What is particularly interesting to me is that this is the review of an empire in decline by a member of an second growth empire which was in turn starting to wane. It's also a fascinating middle ground between romantic speculation and emotionless historiography. The transformation of Christianity from community of outsiders through its expansion and final crystallization into orthodoxy is a process which is examined deeply and is one I was unfamiliar with before. I've read through volumes one and two and I am part way through volume three, but I do intend to continue.

One note about the free Kindle versions: Volume one and three do not include the footnotes, which are a HUGE part of the work, often many times the length of the chapters and includes original Latin sources as well as comments and opinions from the author as well as additional notes by subsequent editors Volume two does include the footnotes, which take some time to go through because they are not formatted differently than the main text.