I wanted to like this book, I really did. I will not hide my bias: I'm no fan of religion, and Christianity - chiefly in its Catholic form - especially. I'd love to be convinced that Christians invented the whole prosecution thing out of the blue, being from the very start a conniving and dangerous bunch. Even if it was so, Moss' book fails to convince the reader. It contains a lot of fascinating analysis of early martyrdom texts, an interesting discussion of martyrdom in Greek antiquity, and a thought-provoking overview of Roman attitudes towards religion and civic duty - and makes a very convincing argument that martyrdom was from the very start used for political purposes by Christians. And yet, Moss seems often to use the argument that if narratives around martyrs were shaped and adjusted according to the needs of the one telling the story, not according to whatever facts known, then the stories are as good as invented. But this is hardly so - turning stories of actual events into tools of persuasion and politics is as old as story-telling itself, and knowing that early Christians cared much more for persuasion and their theological disputes than for mere facts doesn't mean they didn't base their stories on true events. It doesn't, of course, mean they did - but I'm very much unconvinced that they just went and invented martyrdom without at least some basis in reality.
The other problem with the book is that the author holds a clear conviction that the martyrdom myth is a cause of many of society's problems, especially the desire to separate people into 'us' vs 'them' and to view oneself as at war with the dangerous others. I find this causal effect to be a little too simplistic, too reductive and extremely western-centric; whenever the thesis appeared on the pages, it distracted me from otherwise well-written and engaging book.
I don't regret reading "The Myth of Persecution" - it contains a wealth of information on early Christianity's narratives and Greek and Roman attitudes on religion and martyrdom. It's clear, readable, entertaining and interesting; but tragically, it's not convincing and often far too simplistic.