The title of Lwellyn-Jones' book is a misnomer. A proper name for this eminently readable book would "The palace history of the Achaemenid Empire according (mostly) to Greek anecdotes". The most original (and subjective) is the foreword and conclusion, in which Lwellyn-Jones discusses the cultural foreground and prospects for the "Persianism" in the world culture.
The book tells very little about the demographics, society, economy, even the military organization of the Persian society. Why the Persian armies were victorious on the battlefield for so long, until its ignominious defeat in the hands of tiny bands of marauding Greeks and Macedonians? The bulk of it deals with sexo-politics of the dysfunctional polygamous family, which were the Achaemenids and reads like a detective story.
Remarkably, the reference section contains the sources, from which one could possibly learn about the Persian society and identity in more detail.
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