Why the Men-At-Arms series continues to put out these overly broad volumes is beyond my fathoming. Yes, the information is good ... up to a point. The problem is that in creating such broad portraits, the best you get is a stereotyping of the era. And as this volume is not graced by Angus McBride's illustrations, it falls to a lower notch yet.

Venice was a power in the Middle Ages and through part of the Renaissance. Even when dominated by foriegn powers, it was a player on the international scene, especially when dealing with the crumbling remains of the Byzantine Empire. This book does show that Venice was a force to be reckoned with; unfortunately it is covering a period of over 450 years, so anything said in the book must of needs be of a broad perspective.

Many people buy the Men-at-Arms book strictly for the center colour illustrations (yes, I've seen you, you fighters of the SCA!). There is nothing at all wrong with this. I might warn a potential purchaser, however, that the illustrations in this volume are rather flat and might not give you the wealth of detail you might otherwise expect. They are not /bad/, but sometimes the proportions are a bit off, which might convince you to lenghthen a hauberk where it is unnecessary.

I can only hope that Osprey will someday go back and break up several of these "long era" books into smaller chunks. We would be far better served then.