Sure, it reads like a historyy text book...but each decisive battle is explained in a clear & concise manner. I haven't found myself getting bored while reading it. The artwork selected to represent each battle is awesome & the maps greatly assist with visually deciphering the explanation of each conflict & how it was won. Each conflict/battle includes a fact box at the beginning that literally lists the "who, what, when, where, why & outcome" of each battle...which is all I really want to know when reading history stuff that will probably only come in handy if I'm on Jeopardy one day.