The volume under review is an English translation and updated revision of the author's 2003 publication in the Corpus scriptorum Christianorum orientalium series (CSCO 594; Subsidia 110). This earlier German volume was the first comprehensive analysis of the medieval Christian chronicle of Michael the Great (1126–1199 CE). It was also a revision of the author's 2001 PhD dissertation under the supervision of Hubert Kaufhold at the Freie Universitat Berlin.

In the intervening two decades, the author has established herself as a leading expert in medieval history and historiography, specializing in Near Eastern Christian communities. Through her articles and books, she has clarified the often complex history of interreligious contacts in the Eastern Mediterranean, including the cultural history of Syriac Christians in their relationships with their Chalcedonian and Muslim neighbors. Moreover, it is a tribute to the author's scholarship that the study of historiography in the Medieval Near East has blossomed in the seventeen years between her earlier volume and this now-updated edition.

The purpose of this recent revision is to bring the earlier CSCO volume into conversation with the latest scholarship. The author is clear that the goal is not an extensive re-imagining of the earlier work; as she points out, many of her earlier conclusions have withstood the test of time (xiii). Rather, this update is meant to provide readers with what amounts to a judicious revision of the original volume. Updates include material from more recent studies, including the work of scholars such as Pier Borbone, Muriel Debié, Mark Dickens, Jan van Ginkel, Andy Hilkens, Robert Hoyland, Herman Teule, Dietmar Winkler, Ephem Yousif, and many others. These additions also reveal how much the field of medieval historiography has grown since the early 2000s. That many of these updates frequently back up the author's earlier conclusions highlights the lasting influence of her original work. In a way, this new volume brings full circle a decade-long conversation that Dr. Weltecke helped initiate. Not a few of the studies she cites are dependent, in varying degrees, upon her original volume.

Regarding the contents of the revised volume, the author has retained much of the overall outline of the earlier German publication. As the title suggests, the volume keeps its focus on Michael the Great's Chronicle and “its historical and its historiographical context.” Syrian Orthodox Patriarch from 1166–1199, Michael was an indispensable eyewitness to political and ecclesiastical events of his day. In his Chronicle, Michael attempts the monumental task of providing a history that would span the period from Creation to the year 1195 CE. Moreover, as the author makes clear in her Preface, many of her earlier theories about Michael's methods, his views of history, and the history of Syriac historiography have remained “unchallenged.” For this reason, she frequently opts “to let the text [of the original volume] stand as it was” (xiii).

The seven main chapters of the volume provide a readily accessible introduction to methods of historical writing in Syriac Christianity. The author's ability to locate the Chronicle within the context of the twelfth-century Near East is helpful in showing how Michael's historical writing was impacted by his interactions with both Crusaders and Muslims. Given the turbulent historical context in which he lived and wrote, the author superbly illustrates how Michael was motivated in his writing by the theological issues of his day: “Here we seem to have reached the centre from which Michael's historical writing flowed . . . . If God was present in history, this had to be empirically demonstrable from the course of history” (227). One expects that this English translation will provide wider access to the field of medieval Syriac historiography for those new to the field and for scholars working in other language fields.

Among the useful additions to this updated volume is the introduction, with the somewhat analogous title “Historiography about Historiography.” The author summarizes the current state of research into medieval historiography, and she helps the reader place in context Michael's Chronicle, or, more literally, his “description of the times” (maktbōnūtō d-zabnē). An equally valuable feature of this edition are full-page color images of manuscripts that help readers picture how medieval chroniclers used rubrics, polychromy, diagrams, circles, and arrows when composing their chronicles (153, 156, 158, 160, 164, 171, 172–175).

That said, a more comprehensive index might have been worthwhile, given the extensive amount of information in the volume. The current index is limited to five pages and includes mainly names and toponyms. Furthermore, although the author argues persuasively for her decision to retain page numeration in the footnotes to the edition of Michael's Chronicle published by J. B. Chabot (xiii), time may show that more allusions to the newer facsimile edition published by Gorgias Press (2009) would have been worth the effort, especially as working knowledge of Latin fades.

Overall, this is a masterful update to a work that has been a standard in the field of medieval historiography for nearly two decades. In this new English translation and revision, readers will find a familiar reference work, though one that has been updated to reflect the tremendous advances in the field over the intervening twenty years.