The Might That Was Assyria

Preface
It is customary to offer a prefatory justification for a book of this kind. The reason for the writing of this one is simple. Over more than half my life I have studied the Assyrians, and I should like the privilege of sharing with others some of the interest I myself have found in that people.The reader will soon notice that I actually like the Assyrians, warts and all: I make no apology for this. Though the Assyrians, like the people of every other nation ancient and modern, were sometimes less than kind to their fellow humans, I feel no compulsion to be continually advertising my own rightmindedness by offering judgement upon their every action or attitude in terms of current liberal orthodoxy.
I am well aware that there are many topics omitted which might have been discussed. I have notebooks of material which would make up a book more than twice the size of this one, but there had to be a limit. In my selection of what to discuss, I have concentrated upon matters for which the evidence is clearest, areas which touch the modern world most nearly, and topics which seem the most interesting. Obviously, these three criteria do not always coincide, and I have sometimes had to sacrifice one or other.