Entertaining as popular history, but I found myself disturbed by all the apparently invented colorful verbatim quotes from historic characters, and the complete lack of any footnotes or supporting material to lend credibility to the accuracy of the material presented. Sort of like watching a TV or movie fictionalized watered-down version of history. I don't have time to devote to a book that I can't be sure whether to take seriously; that often seems to teeter over the edge of objectivity and into the domain of historical fiction.